William Daniels

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William Daniels and his wife Bonnie Bartlett (1987)

William David Daniels (born March 31, 1927 in Brooklyn , New York City , New York ) is an American actor and former president of the American Actors Union .

Start of career

Daniels made his first experiences in show business at an early age as a singer and dancer at the side of his sisters Jacqueline Carol. In addition to radio appearances, the siblings soon appeared in children's programs on television. As a teenager, Daniels was promoted by the author Howard Lindsay , on whose recommendation he began studying the performing arts at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and graduated in 1949. He also visited Lee Strasberg's renowned actors studio .

stage

For many decades, Daniels has appeared repeatedly as an actor, singer and dancer on New York Broadway , Off-Broadway and on tour stages. He played character roles such as "Jimmy Porter" in Edward Albee's Looking Back in Anger , "Albert Amundsen" in Herb Gardner's A Thousand Clowns and "Brick" in Tennessee Williams The Cat on a Hot Tin Roof , for which he was personally written by the author was selected. His portrayal of "Peter" in the first US production of Albees The Zoo Story earned him both the Obie and the Clarence Derwent Award in 1960 . He also achieved great success in 1969 with his portrayal of John Adams in the musical 1776 by Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone . A total of 954 times he played the first US Vice President on Broadway and in 1972 in the film version of the musical of the same name.

Movie and TV

In 1963 Daniels made his feature film debut in the anti-war film Ladybug Ladybug . In his film career spanning more than four decades, he starred in productions such as Mike Nichols ' Die Reifeprüfung (as the father of Dustin Hoffman , who was only ten years his junior ), Stanley Donen's drama Two on the Same Path , the crime thriller The Third in Ambush (with James Garner as Philip Marlowe ), Carl Reiner's comedies Oh, God! and The Charming Loudmouth , the adventure film The Blue Lagoon , Warren Beatty's Oscar-winning drama Reds, and Blake Edwards ' comedy Blind Date, starring Bruce Willis and Kim Basinger .

Chief Physician Dr. Westphall and Life and Me

However, Daniels became known to a wide audience primarily through his television roles: As early as 1967 he received the leading role as a superhero in the short-lived fantasy series The Secret of the Blue Drops . From 1982 to 1988 he finally embodied the sharp-tongued but lovable doctor Dr. Mark Craig in the television series Chief Physician Dr. West phall . This portrayal earned Daniels a total of five Emmy nominations . He was able to take home the coveted trophy twice. In addition, he received the Viewers for Quality Television Award for this role for two consecutive years . He also worked as a director for the series for a time .

Daniels took on one of his last major series roles in 1993 as Mr. George Feeny , the always correct school principal and equally helpful neighbor of the young main character in the sitcom Life and Me , which was produced until 2000. In the continuation of the series under the title Life and Riley , he represented this role again in five episodes from 2014.

Speaking and serial roles

Daniels also worked regularly as a spokesperson for cartoon characters, such as in the series The Simpsons and Kim Possible . His voice is best known to an English-speaking audience through the series Knight Rider , for which he lent his voice to the miracle car KITT between 1982 and 1986 and again in a television film in 1991 .

He also made numerous guest appearances on television series such as Quincy , The Incredible Hulk , King of Queens , Scrubs , Boston Legal , The Closer and Grey's Anatomy .

Screen Actors Guild

In the late 1990s, Daniels became increasingly involved in the Screen Actors Guild , an American actors union , which he chaired from 1999 to 2001. During this time, among other things, an actors' strike took place, which ended with positive results for the union members.

family

Since 1951 Daniels has been married to his colleague Bonnie Bartlett , who also played his wife several times in film and television productions ( head physician Dr. Westphall ). The couple has two sons, one of whom works as an opera singer and the other as an artist.

Awards

  • 1960: Obie Award for The History of the Zoo
  • 1960: Clarence Derwent Award
  • 1985: Emmy Award for best leading actor in a drama series (Head Physician Dr. Westphall)
  • 1986: Emmy Award for best leading actor in a drama series (head physician Dr. Westphall) . His wife Bonnie Bartlett was also awarded an Emmy that same evening.
  • 1986 and 1987: Viewers for Quality Television Award for best actor in a high-quality drama series (Head Doctor Dr. Westphall)

In addition, Northwestern University annually awards the William Daniels Awards (“Willies” for short) for the best performances in acting, directing and choreography of the productions shown on campus.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.filmreference.com/film/17/William-Daniels.html
  2. ↑ http://www.tv.com/william-daniels/person/281204/summary.html
personal data
SURNAME Daniels, William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Daniels, William David (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH March 31, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn , New York City , New York , United States