William Daniels makes stern men interesting through the precision of his delivery. We recommend his work in St. Elsewhere, where Mark Craig's bad behaviour never becomes the only thing worth noticing about him.
Fi1m perspective
As the heart surgeon Mark Craig in St. Elsewhere (1982), William Daniels makes being difficult seem entirely reasonable to the man doing it. Craig's bluntness does not exhaust what there is to notice about him, and Daniels lets us see the care beneath it without excusing the behaviour. We found ourselves absorbed by Craig even when the medical drama felt familiar, because Daniels gave us a person worth examining.
The earlier film parts included Mr Braddock, the father of Dustin Hoffman's character, in The Graduate (1967). In 1776 (1972), he reprised his Broadway role as John Adams. Television was less settled: Captain Nice (1967) and The Nancy Walker Show (1976) were both short-lived series. Craig provided a sustained leading part, and Daniels's reputation rests chiefly on a handful of substantial roles rather than an uninterrupted succession of them.
In St. Elsewhere, Norman Lloyd as Daniel Auschlander and Ed Begley Jr. as Victor Ehrlich give him useful company. The three make the staff worth following even when they are hard to like, and Daniels's precision serves that ensemble well. He can establish Craig's authority without making it a reason for us to approve of him. When the medical stories become familiar, the actors keep us interested in the people involved rather than merely waiting for the next case.
His cultivated voice had another job in Knight Rider (1982), where he voiced the intelligent car KITT while also working on St. Elsewhere. The contrast makes clear how much of his work depends on delivery: he does not need a human figure on screen to establish a personality. Boy Meets World (1993) later gave him George Feeny, a strict but caring teacher, and another use for that firm, precise manner.
St. Elsewhere can drag, and its insistence on spelling out a lesson is harder to forgive when the actors have already made the point. Daniels cannot make every such passage worth the time. Start there for him and his colleagues, if flawed hospital staff are your sort of company.
Biography
William Daniels is an American actor. He was born on 31 March 1927 in Brooklyn, New York.
He is known for his role as Dr. Mark Craig on the medical drama series St. Elsewhere (1982–1988), for which he won two Primetime Emmy Awards. Other notable television roles include George Feeny on Boy Meets World (1993–2000) and the voice of KITT on Knight Rider (1982–1986). His film credits include Mr. Braddock in The Graduate (1967).
Daniels served as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1999 to 2001. He is married to actress Bonnie Bartlett, with whom he appeared on St. Elsewhere.
