William David Daniels (born March 31, 1927 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American actor, best known nowadays for his role as schoolteacher George Feeny on Boy Meets World. He also played Dr. Mark Craig on St. Elsewhere and provided the voice of KITT in Knight Rider. His earliest claim to fame, however, was his role as irascible American revolutionary John Adams in the musical 1776, first on Broadway and then in the film adaptation.
He is easily recognized by his distinctive voice and no-nonsense personality, no matter what character he may be portraying.
Daniels met his wife, Bonnie Bartlett, when they were both freshmen at Northwestern University. They got married almost immediately after graduation, in June 1951, and have been together ever since, making them one of Hollywood's longest-lasting couples. They made Emmy Awards history in 1986, winning Best Actor and Best Actress for their work as Mark and Ellen Craig on St. Elsewhere and becoming only the second married couple to win acting awards on the same night. They also played married or romantically-involved characters on two other occasions; once as guest stars on Touched by an Angel, and again on Boy Meets World, when Bartlett joined the cast as Lila Bolander, Dean of Pennbrook College. The Feeny and Bolander characters began dating and married in the season 6 finale "State of the Unions".
He served as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1999-2001.
Works he's appeared in on TV Tropes:
- A Thousand Clowns (1965) as Albert Amundson
- Captain Nice (1967) as Carter Nash/Captain Nice
- The President's Analyst (1967) as Wynn Quantrill
- Two for the Road (1967) as Howard Manchester
- The Graduate (1967) as Mr. Braddock
- Marlowe (1969) as Mr. Crowell
- 1776 (1972) as John Adams
- The Parallax View (1974) as Austin Tucker
- Black Sunday (1977) as Harold Pugh
- Oh, God! (1977) as George Summers
- The Incredible Hulk (1977): Dr. John Bonifant
- The Blue Lagoon (1980) as Arthur Lestrange
- Reds (1981) as Jules Gerber
- Knight Rider (1982–86) as KITT (voice)
- St. Elsewhere (1982–88) as Dr. Mark Craig
- Blind Date (1987) as Judge Harold Bedford
- Her Alibi (1989) as Sam
- Boy Meets World (1993–2000) as Mr. George Feeny
- Girl Meets World (2014–17)
- Benchwarmers (2006) as KITT (voice)
- Blades of Glory (2007) as Commissioner Ebbers
Tropes in his work:
- American Accents: Though he's from Brooklyn, he trained himself to speak in a pitch-perfect mid-Atlantic accent, which became part of the reason for his Typecasting (see below).
- Typecasting: For much of his career, he was the go-to actor if you needed an uptight WASP, particularly a Yankee.
