3/29/07: RightWingTrashMan: William DanielsThere’s nothing too exciting about the upcoming
Blades of Glory, except that some critics will be upset that the Will Ferrell gross-out gags are built upon the presumption of gayness. It’s still nice to see William Daniels up on the big screen in a quick cameo. He plays the ice-skating commissioner who initially bans our heroes from competition. And when William Daniels bans you from anything, you’re banned with authority.
Daniels remains best known for his small-screen work. He pretty much made the ’80s soap
St. Elsewhere watchable with his work as the imposing Dr. Craig. It was network television, so Dr. Craig never got a chance to win any of his conservative arguments. He once even let wimpy intern David Morse get away with saying that hippie activists were as brave as any soldier in Vietnam after the shootings at Kent State. In real life, Dr. Craig would have explained that hippie activists were virtually bulletproof after Kent State.
Anyway, Daniels was far more effective during that same period as the voice of K.I.T.T. on
Knight Rider, providing vigilante justice through flame-throwers and wry banter—while working alongside
Nick Fury. Daniels was a fantasy veteran by then, having been a true SuperSquare on the ’60s superhero parody
Captain Nice.
The show only ran for a single season in 1967. That would prove to be a bigger year for Daniels on the big screen. He landed immortality as Dustin Hoffman’s dad in
The Graduate, but Daniels’ right-wing impact was in two other films.
Two for the Road has Daniels as a hyper-punctual American who distracts Albert Finney and Audrey Hepburn from their perpetual navel-gazing.
The President’s Analyst features the actor as an armed liberal suburban dad who saves the life of James Coburn. Daniel’s character keeps a stockpile of weapons on hand because he doesn’t trust his Republican neighbors.
We’re pretty sure that character saw the light by the time of the Reagan revolution.
Daniels remains in demand, but his last big splash was as George Feeny on
Boy Meets World. He spent seven seasons as the stern-but-lovable teacher (and neighbor) to young Ben Savage. Mr. Feeny basically made up for how Dr. Craig was treated on
St. Elsewhere.
Boy Meets World featured Daniels as the authoritative voice of morality and outrage. There was also the occasional comic banter worthy of a
Knight Rider script. If Mr. Feeny ever said anything Leftist, we overlooked it because we were too busy
looking over the rising rack of Topanga Lawrence enjoying this wholesome family sitcom.
Daniels is in
Black Sunday, too, and has a long history of playing John Adams—including in the stage and screen versions of
1776. He’s the kind of actor that you can’t write about without knowing that you’re forgetting at least three vital roles.
So let’s close by saluting Daniels’ off-screen life. He ousted Leftist actor Richard Masur as head of the Screen Actor’s Guild back in 1999, and has been married to actress Bonnie Bartlett since 1951. He’s pretty much set to wrap up a long and distinguished career without a trace of scandal—which is more than you can say about that crackhead who used to play the dad on
ALF. Really, you can’t be too careful in choosing whom you’re honoring nowadays.
Make him your own: With the exception of
St. Elsewhere, all of the TV shows and films mentioned above are worth owning—but let’s think about future generations and get
Boy Meets World for your kids to someday watch.
And here’s a special bonus honoree for today:
RightWingTrashMan: CancerWe’ve all enjoyed the presence of this fatal illness in any number of film and television productions. We never realized the prestige of cancer, however, until we saw all these Leftist creeps willing to celebrate the death of Cathy Seipp and the illness of Tony Snow. Cancer suddenly seems like an honor. If we ever get cancer, our friends and family will be notified via an engraved announcement that’ll be sent out with a cigar.
