William Daniels is still alive

He’s only alive in an autistic boy’s snow globe.

I think he was a regular on L.A. LAW (a show I didn’t watch.) But I may be thinking of someone else.

if you feel like Catherine the Great at twenty-eight, wait til we're sixty-five!

[quote] I think he was a regular on L.A. LAW

Does that mean he was still alive?

1776

He replaced Cariou...

Last year I read his memoir because someone on DL recommended it. It's an easy read, and the parts covering his theater career and early movies were by far the best. He later veered off into union work and TV, and those chapters needed a good edit.

Played a main character on three long running shows. "Knight Rider", "St. Elsewhere" and "Boy Meets World." There are not many actors/actresses that can say that.

He's MR. BARBARA THORNDYKE! How would any self-respecting Datalounger NOT know him?

R9, you seem limited.

I’ve always wondered if Daniels is gay.

OP, his wife - and fellow Emmy Award-winning St. Elsewhere co-star - Bonnie Bartlett is, at 94, still living, too.

How Dark The Waves on Biscayne Bay was about his mood disorder.

Classy and sophisticated man who was too good for Hollywood.

R3 is gay.

R9 is gay. With a personality disorder. Or maybe just a Virgo. The line is so thin.

R16 Daniels is an Aries, Bartlett is a Gemini.

Face it, Dorothy, William Daniels is limited.

And he can't come to the Mortimer Club if he's Jewish.

I paid for him to do a CAMEO (one of those paid, brief, celebrity videos that you send to a friend) during Covid. I asked him to share a memory from 1776 as the video was a gift to a friend whom I met while doing that show many years ago. He was seated and a bit fidgety (restless leg syndrome?) -and he had an ENORMOUS bulge. I guess good things really do come in small packages!

What did he say, r19?

He was mentioned in a Variety article just the other day.

TCM's annual Independence Day showing of "1776," in which Daniels stars as John Adams, airs tomorrow.

He and Bonnie Barrett have the longest lasting Hollywood marriage.

Intelligent

I. Love. The Score to 1776. My parents took me (as a wee, wee gayling) and my sister to see the show in NYC.

We had the LP, played it many, many times.

Decades later I attended the Saturday matinee of the Encores! production of "1776." Santino Fontana played Adams; the production was so freaking good and in the cast was John Laroquette playing B. Franklin.

Friend and I stayed for the afternoon talk back. William Daniels was in the house! He was invited on stage to sit with the cast. He was funny, told the story about how the Nixon administration tried to edit several songs out of the show for the White House performance. What. A. Treat.

BONUS... Laroquette did not stay for the talk back. He came out on stage to say 'hello' to Bill (Daniels). He explained that they had done some TV movie together years earlier, blah, blah, blah; but John had to leave... he was meeting friends before the evening performance.

This ranks up there with the afternoon I saw Sondheim on the City Center stage another Encores! production.

Where do Bonnie and him live?

Will be watching 1776 tomorrow. I came to it late, only a few years ago, and it's so good! Daniels is a big part of the reason why.

Let's not forget he was also Benjamin's dad in The Graduate.

R26, probably Coral Gables or Palm Beach...

When William Daniels dies within the next month I'm going to blame op.

R28. No, they seem like sophisticated New England people.

Who?

They raised their sons in Studio City, and were still living in that same house a couple of years ago. In his memoir, he writes about buying the house there and being a mostly stay-at-home Dad: "It was heaven."

A city of studios

[quote]I’ve always wondered if Daniels is gay.

I can assure you he’s NOT.

When I first saw this, I thought- naaah he's dead! Then I realized I was thinking of John Hillerman.

He was in Two for the Road with Albert Finney and Audrey Hepburn!

He shares some memories here.

Fellow gays over 50 May remember him from The Blue Lagoon.

Or maybe not, since his character is limited to the pre-castaway beginning - before Chris Atkins winds up in the white loincloth.

Wasn't he an awful SAG President?

LADYBUG LADYBUG

Played a gay in The Parallax View

[quote]LADYBUG LADYBUG

Triggered!

I greatly admire William Daniels and his wife and his wife, Bonnie Bartlett. They were so marvelous in “St. Elsewhere”.

I don't think he and the Mrs. were good with money if they're doing Cameos in their 90s. They also apparently do the convention circuit.

I don't think he does the Cameos for the money. He doesn't charge much at all. I suppose he is "comfortable" but likes to keep his hand in as the saying goes. Not much else he can do at his age, especially if he is having mobility/stability issues. He is a fine and principled actor -one of the greats.

If anybody would pay me $25 to record myself telling them Happy Birthday when I'm in my 80s, I would do it, even if I'm well-off. Why not? $25 for two minutes of my time from the comfort of my home is crazy good money.

And his wife?

I don't think she has to pay, R46.

Bonnie Bartlett could probably ask for thousands, maybe even millions for a cameo doing Barbara Thorndyke.

R48- she does. She goes to Golden Girls conventions. No joke.

I just checked and it's $150 for a William Daniels video that averages 45 seconds. Who wouldn't do that?

[quote] I don't think he does the Cameos for the money.

So what does he do it for? The fame?

Think about it, R51. Every request for a video means an interaction with a fan -a positive interaction where someone tells you how much they value you and your work, and they want to share that with another person who would value it as well. It says you are not forgotten.

Is that enough reason for you?

I'm not surprised he's alive.

After seeing him play what can only be described as a persnickety nellie prisspot on a number of occasions, I AM shocked that he is, in fact, heterosexual.

No, it's certainly not enough for me. But you apparently feel differently.

....

R55 = Tommy Westphall

Privileged to have seen him on Broadway in 1776 and On a Clear Day. Adored him on St. Elsewhere. A singular actor, best of the best, long may he continue to live!

R57, an eralier poster provided a pic of Daniels as Frederick in A Little Night Music (he replaced Cariou). I would have loved to see that performance!

[quote]William Daniels is still alive

He may be alive, Dorothy...

but he's no Murray Guttman.

Actually I saw Daniels as Frederick in ALNM. I'd forgotten that. As much as I love him, he was not perfect casting there, all fussbudget and no re-awakened desire.

He played Dustin Hoffman’s father (!) in The Graduate, 55 years ago. Maybe they should do a sequel.

I didn't care for him. I found him rude and insolent.

I fondly remember him in the Audrey Hepburn/Albert Finney film TWO FOR THE ROAD as the other half of a quarrelsome couple opposite the great Eleanor Bron.

He’s limited.

Is this Jack’s brother?

[quote] Privileged to have seen him on Broadway in 1776 and On a Clear Day.

[italic]Mary.[/italic]