04/17/2017
Daniels, a Brooklyn native who’s won two Emmys and been president of the Screen Actors Guild, talks about his series of memorable roles on stage and screen, including the status-loving father in The Graduate (1967), John Adams in the Broadway production of 1776 (1969), Dr. Craig in St. Elsewhere (1982), KITT in Knight Rider (1982), and Mr. Feeny in Boy Meets World (1993). As an entertainer, he was overly ambitious, and his career was interrupted by a stint in the military, but he shone brightly in the drama school at Northwestern, where he met his future wife, Bonnie Bartlett. Daniels is very gentle with the stars involved in the old Hollywood circles, including Veronica Lake, Marilyn Monroe, Jerome Robbins, Jason Robards Jr., Peter Sellers, Kirk Douglas, Albert Finney, and Mike Nichols. “Whatever success I’ve had in my life—and I’ve had considerable success—has come to me almost accidentally,” writes Daniels. Capped off with a bright dialogue with Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and 30 photos, Daniels’s reflective memoir permits the reader to sample the complicated emotional terrain of an actor. (Mar.)
"Will find an audience in family, friends and ardent fans."—Wall Street Journal
“Bless you, Bill Daniels! Thanks to your wonderful book, I get to live the best years of my life over again—the magical ’80s when we did St. Elsewhere. And not just those wonderful times—I get to relive Two for the Road, The Graduate, and 1776 in the bargain. What a treat!”—Ed Begley Jr.
“A wonderful journey through the life of one of our finest actors. Bill Daniels has always been at the head of our class. But those who are lucky enough to spend time with him know he’s in a class by himself.”—Michael Jacobs, writer and producer
“There I Go Again is an American success story of a boy who thought he’d be tap dancing on radio, only to end up excelling in theater on Broadway, motion pictures, television, and ultimately becoming the president of the Screen Actors Guild. . . . There I Go Again is honest, smart, witty, and intelligent. I enjoyed every moment of it.”—Elliott Gould
“Sharing Bill Daniels’s triumphs and disappointments is a deeply satisfying experience. His candor is as refreshing as it is admirable, while his portrait of an actor’s life both onstage and on TV is as entertaining as it is illuminating. And his gripping depiction of his two years as president of the Screen Actors Guild is practically worth the price of the book!”—Sheldon Harnick, lyricist who helped create Fiorello! and Fiddler on the Roof
“Bill Daniels is the personification of the humor, the humility, the humanity, and the dignity of the acting profession. Read his book.”—Warren Beatty
"Will find an audience in family, friends and ardent fans."—Wall Street Journal
2017-01-31
An Emmy Award-winning actor recounts his career and how he "went ‘ass backwards' into just about everything—and what a lucky guy I've been."Daniels, a character actor best known for his roles on the TV series St. Elsewhere, Knight Rider, and Boy Meets World, looks back on his career in excruciating detail. Throughout the book, the author delivers mild, occasionally amusing backstage anecdotes, the minutiae of decades-past business and political negotiations—Daniels served briefly as the president of the Screen Actors Guild—and biographical data of little interest to anyone but the author's family in an unwavering, monotonous, on-the-verge-of-droll voice that evokes nothing but a prim self-regard. Readers looking for salacious showbiz dirt will be disappointed: Daniels remembers Jerome Robbins' brusque directorial style (Daniels was active on Broadway) and Jason Robards Jr.'s habit of disappearing from set to drink—both observations are very old news—and that's about it. Daniels provided the voice for the talking car in the ludicrous 1980s program Knight Rider, but he recorded his parts separately and barely met notorious co-star David Hasselhoff. The author discusses the trials of being raised by a relentless stage mother and confesses to a drinking-problem period, but he allows only that it further soured his already prickly demeanor, which feels less than revelatory. Compact, with a regal bearing and a Brahmin accent, the Brooklyn native typically played supercilious establishment types, such as St. Elsewhere's arrogant surgeon Dr. Mark Craig and Boy Meets World's stern academic mentor George Feeny, and his prickly, acerbic élan added memorable flavor to such classic films as The Graduate and Two for the Road. Sadly, in book form, Daniels fails to similarly engage or amuse. An unrevealing and inessential showbiz memoir.
"Will find an audience in family, friends and ardent fans." ---Wall Street Journal
