William Daniels Through the Years: ‘The Graduate,’ ‘St. Elsewhere,’ ‘Boy Meets World,’ Married Life and More

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William Daniels Through the Years: 'The Graduate,' 'St. Elsewhere,' 'Boy Meets World,' Married Life and More

A long career. William Daniels had been in the film and TV industry for decades when he began portraying the beloved teacher Mr. Feeny on the coming-of-age sitcom Boy Meets World in 1993. “Mr. Feeny’s appeal was due to the fact that he was a friend, a mentor and an advisor all rolled into one,” Daniels wrote in his March 2017 memoir There I Go Again: How I Came to Be Mr. Feeny, John Adams, Dr. Craig, KITT & Many Others. The New York native added that more than a decade after the series finale, he was still receiving mail “from (now-grown) fans who tell me how important the show and the role I played were to them in their formative years.” The effect that Feeny had on audiences is something that Daniels never saw coming; on the contrary, he initially turned down the role, fearing that it might be offensive to educators. “I asked for a meeting [with showrunner Michael Jacobs] because I turned it down and he wanted to know why,” the Captain Nice alum recalled during a July 2022 appearance on “Pod Meets World,” which is hosted by fellow Boy Meets World alums Danielle Fishel, Rider Strong and Will Friedle. “I said ‘Well, that’s a funny name and I don’t want to make fun of teachers. I respect them and they’re unpaid and all that.’ Then he told me what my role was based on, which was a mentor of his when he was in high school.” [jwplayer YwMoFhSG-zhNYySv2] He continued: “I was afraid [Feeny] would be the butt of the joke [but then] I realized the plot would be written with respect.” Before his time on the hit ABC series, Daniels was a Broadway actor, appearing in productions including Life With Father, 1776, A Thousand Clowns, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, and A Little Night Music. He made his film debut in 1963, when he played school principal Mr. Calkins in the docudrama Ladybug Ladybug. He went on to appear in movies including The Graduate (1967), Two for the Road (1967) and the film version of 1776 (1972). On the small screen, the Adams Chronicles actor portrayed Dr. Mark Craig on the medical drama St. Elsewhere from 1982 to 1988, earning two Emmy awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for the role. Daniels and his real real-life wife, Bonnie Bartlett, played a married couple on the series. The twosome — who met when they were both studying acting at Northwestern University — tied the knot in 1951. Bartlett gave birth to their first child, son William Jr., in 1961, but the newborn died just 24 hours later. The duo went on to adopt sons Michael and Robert in 1964 and 1966, respectively. During a December 2020 interview with Forbes, Bartlett shared that her husband’s parenting prowess — as well as his playfulness — are among her favorite things about him. “He makes me laugh. His sense of humor and his ability every day to find something funny is really good for me because I’m very intense. That and being a great father. He’s a great father,” she told the outlet. Scroll through for a look at Daniels' life over the years:

Credit: Nbc-Tv/Kobal/Shutterstock

William Daniels Through the Years: 'The Graduate,' 'St. Elsewhere,' 'Boy Meets World,' Married Life and More

A long career. William Daniels had been in the film and TV industry for decades when he began portraying the beloved teacher Mr. Feeny on the coming-of-age sitcom Boy Meets World in 1993. “Mr. Feeny’s appeal was due to the fact that he was a friend, a mentor and an advisor all rolled into one,” Daniels wrote in his March 2017 memoir There I Go Again: How I Came to Be Mr. Feeny, John Adams, Dr. Craig, KITT & Many Others. The New York native added that more than a decade after the series finale, he was still receiving mail “from (now-grown) fans who tell me how important the show and the role I played were to them in their formative years.” The effect that Feeny had on audiences is something that Daniels never saw coming; on the contrary, he initially turned down the role, fearing that it might be offensive to educators. “I asked for a meeting [with showrunner Michael Jacobs] because I turned it down and he wanted to know why,” the Captain Nice alum recalled during a July 2022 appearance on “Pod Meets World,” which is hosted by fellow Boy Meets World alums Danielle Fishel, Rider Strong and Will Friedle. “I said ‘Well, that’s a funny name and I don’t want to make fun of teachers. I respect them and they’re unpaid and all that.’ Then he told me what my role was based on, which was a mentor of his when he was in high school.” [jwplayer YwMoFhSG-zhNYySv2] He continued: “I was afraid [Feeny] would be the butt of the joke [but then] I realized the plot would be written with respect.” Before his time on the hit ABC series, Daniels was a Broadway actor, appearing in productions including Life With Father, 1776, A Thousand Clowns, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, and A Little Night Music. He made his film debut in 1963, when he played school principal Mr. Calkins in the docudrama Ladybug Ladybug. He went on to appear in movies including The Graduate (1967), Two for the Road (1967) and the film version of 1776 (1972). On the small screen, the Adams Chronicles actor portrayed Dr. Mark Craig on the medical drama St. Elsewhere from 1982 to 1988, earning two Emmy awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for the role. Daniels and his real real-life wife, Bonnie Bartlett, played a married couple on the series. The twosome — who met when they were both studying acting at Northwestern University — tied the knot in 1951. Bartlett gave birth to their first child, son William Jr., in 1961, but the newborn died just 24 hours later. The duo went on to adopt sons Michael and Robert in 1964 and 1966, respectively. During a December 2020 interview with Forbes, Bartlett shared that her husband’s parenting prowess — as well as his playfulness — are among her favorite things about him. “He makes me laugh. His sense of humor and his ability every day to find something funny is really good for me because I’m very intense. That and being a great father. He’s a great father,” she told the outlet. Scroll through for a look at Daniels' life over the years:

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1951

Daniels married his college sweetheart, Bartlett. 

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1961

The two actors’ first son, William Jr., died just 24 hours after his birth.

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1963

The Blades of Glory actor made his film debut in Ladybug Ladybug after years of working as a Broadway actor. 

“I really don’t remember anything about it,” he told The A.V. Club of the project in March 2015. “The director [Frank Perry] was a fairly prominent director, and I did it because he asked me to, and it didn’t take very long to do. But I honestly don’t remember a thing about it.”

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1967

Daniels played Dustin Hoffman’s father in the critically acclaimed romantic comedy-drama The Graduate.

When asked whether he knew that the film would be a hit while he was making it, Daniels told Forbes in August 2022: “I don’t think anybody felt that way about it. …You don’t know what you’ve got until you play it in front of the audience.”

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1964

The Crazy Love actor and Bartlett adopted son Michael.

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1966

Daniels and the Little House on the Prairie alum completed their family with the adoption of son Robert. 

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1972

The Blue Lagoon actor played John Adams in 1776, reprising his role from the Broadway musical of the same name.

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1982

Daniels began his portrayal of Dr. Mark Craig on St. Elsewhere.

In March 2015, the Screen Actors Guild board member told The A.V. Club that the part of his wife, Ellen Craig— played by Bartlett — was originally intended to be a much smaller role.

“They were discussing who to get for my wife, because she didn’t have more than one or two lines, if even that. It was a sight gag, really. So, they discussed it and discussed it, and then finally the lady over at MGM said, ‘Listen, his wife is an actress. Ask her if she might do us a favor.’ They said, ‘Well, it’s so small!’ So, they asked her, and she did it, and they liked the look of it and pretty soon they started writing for her, so she became a regular on the show. But it was kind of accidental,” he shared. 

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1982

The Broadway alum began voicing KITT on the television series Knight Rider. He went on to reprise his role in the 1991 TV movie Knight Rider 2000.

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1986

Daniels and Bartlett won Emmy awards for St. Elsewhere on the same night, becoming the first married couple to do so since Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in 1965. 

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1993

Audiences were introduced to Daniels’ iconic character Mr. Feeny when Boy Meets World premiered in September.

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2000

Boy Meets World came to an end after seven seasons. When Daniels appeared on the rewatch podcast "Pod Meets World" in July 2022, his former costar Fishel, who played Topanga on the series, reflected on Mr. Feeny’s final episode.

“I can very easily cry thinking about that last scene that we did with you at the end of our show,” the actress shared. “For all the years that we worked together, gosh, seeing you, and being with you in that last scene in the classroom, really nailed home for me that this was the end of an era. It was also very much the end of my childhood.”

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2012

Daniels appeared in season 9 of Grey’s Anatomy as Dr. Craig Thomas, a mentor to Sandra Oh’s character, Dr. Cristina Yang.

“She was a doll to work with, and we had a good time,” the Closer alum told The A.V. Club of Oh in March 2015. “I liked playing the part because she was the cocksure surgeon and I was a surgeon emeritus. I’d been around a long time, so I proceeded to take her down a peg, so that was fun.”

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2014

The There I Go Again author reprised his role as Mr. Feeny on the spinoff series Girl Meets World, appearing in five episodes throughout the show’s time on the air.

Credit: Youtube

2018

Daniels managed to stop an attempted burglary at his home in October.

“We were asleep and I heard bang, bang, bang. … I lit the light and Bonnie screamed and this person fled and that’s the whole damn story,” he explained during a Good Morning America interview the day after the incident.

Credit: Youtube

2022

The Emmy winner reunited with his former costars during a July appearance on “Pod Meets World.” 

“You all were young and having fun and I was much more serious," Daniels told the show’s hosts Fishel, Friedle and Strong of his time on Boy Meets World. “I would hang out in my dressing room away from you all as you fooled around before the camera and then they said, 'Mr. Daniels, we’re ready for you,' and then I’d go out."

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2023

Bartlett opened up about both her and Daniels’ relationships with other people during the early years of their marriage in her January memoir Middle of the Rainbow.

“I guess it was a little bit of an open marriage at first, but that was very painful. That didn’t work well,” she recalled. “It was a time when people were doing that. It was at a time in New York when there was a lot of sex and a lot of people doing all kinds of things, you know — very free. But I don’t know if there was a lack of commitment a little bit, and that’s not good.”

Daniels, for his part, promoted the book via Twitter.

“BIG NEWS. My wife, Bonnie Bartlett Daniels, wrote a memoir! It's honest, raw, and even has a few stories I forgot about! Can't wait for you all to read about the woman I fell in love with. Once you read it, it'll be obvious as to why,” he wrote.