Bill Daily

For other people with a similar name, see William Daily
Bill Daily

Daily as Roger Healey, 1969
Born (1927-08-30) August 30, 1927
Des Moines, Iowa, U.S.[1]
Occupation Actor, comedian
Years active 1952–2010
Spouse(s) Patricia Anderson (1949–76; 2 children)
Vivian Sanchez (1980–??)
Becky Daily (1993–2010, her death)

Bill Daily (born August 30, 1927) is an American actor, comedian and a veteran of many television sitcoms. He is known for playing astronaut Roger Healey on I Dream of Jeannie and commercial airline navigator Howard Borden on The Bob Newhart Show.

Early life and career

Daily's father died when Bill was young, and he was raised by his mother and other family members. In 1939, Daily and his family moved from Des Moines, Iowa to Chicago, where he spent the rest of his youth. Upon leaving Lane Technical High School, Daily left home to try to carve out a life as a musician, playing bass with jazz bands in numerous clubs across the Midwest. He was drafted into the United States Army and served in the Korean War with an artillery unit, later being transferred to an entertainment unit.

It was in his traveling-musician days that Daily began performing stand-up and gradually began playing some of the bigger clubs in the country. After graduating from the Goodman Theatre School, Daily worked for the NBC television station in Chicago, WMAQ, as an announcer and floor manager. He eventually became a staff director.[1] Daily stated that preparing for a Chicago-area Emmy Award telecast, he asked a young Bob Newhart to come up with a routine about press agents which resulted in the routine "Abe Lincoln vs. Madison Avenue".

Television roles

Daily appeared in guest spots on My Mother the Car, The Farmer's Daughter and Bewitched. Veteran sitcom writer Sidney Sheldon liked Daily's work and hired him for a supporting role on I Dream of Jeannie.

In 1972, two years after Jeannie was canceled, Daily was back on TV in another aviator's uniform, in what is perhaps his signature role: Howard Borden in The Bob Newhart Show. Borden, a commercial-airline navigator who later became a co-pilot, lived across the hall from Bob Newhart's Bob Hartley character, and would frequently pop into the Hartleys' apartment to borrow things, mooch a meal, or have the Hartleys take care of his son when he had custody of him.

Daily would also occasionally serve as a panelist on the 1970s CBS game show The Match Game. After Richard Dawson's departure, Daily was a semi-regular for the final three years of the show's CBS and syndicated run.

For the two years that followed The Bob Newhart Show, Daily returned to stand-up, but in 1980, after years of making a living as a second banana, Daily was offered his own show. Called Small & Frye, the show featured Daily as a neurotic doctor; it lasted only three months before being canceled. Daily, a lifelong lover of magic, made three syndicated specials introducing young magicians called Bill Daily's Hocus-Pocus Gang which aired in 1982 and 1983. In 1988, Daily tried his hand again at starring roles, this time as another doctor on the sitcom Starting From Scratch. It fared slightly better than Frye, and was canceled after one season. Daily's most notable post-Newhart role was another supporting character, that of Larry the psychiatrist on the cult favorite ALF (1986); Jack Riley appeared as an unnamed patient, clearly reprising Elliot Carlin from The Bob Newhart Show. ALF claimed to have learned all he knew about psychology from watching the earlier series.

Bill Daily at the 2011 Supanova Pop Culture Expo

During the 1980s–1990s, Daily reprised his I Dream of Jeannie role of Roger Healey in two made-for-TV reunion movies: I Dream of Jeannie... Fifteen Years Later (1985) and I Still Dream of Jeannie (1991). In 1990, he reunited with Bob Newhart as a new, overbearing neighbor in the Newhart episode "Good Neighbor Sam". Also in 1991, he reprised the role of Howard Borden in The Bob Newhart Show: 19th Anniversary, which aired in February of that year. In 1997, he was a guest star on Caroline in the City.

In 1987, he was named director of the New Mexico Film Commission.[2]

Personal life

Daily married his first wife, Patricia Anderson, in 1949. In 1976, the couple divorced. Daily has two adopted children, a son, Patrick, and a daughter, Kimberley. His son is a key grip and stunt pilot in Hollywood, and his daughter is a retired teacher in Colorado. In 1980 he married Vivian Sanchez, with whom he traveled on the road performing Lover's Leap for two years, and with whom he had one child, Becca. He and Sanchez later divorced.

In 1993, he married Becky Daily. The couple remained together until her death in 2010. Although mostly retired, he still does some live comedy and the occasional TV guest appearance. From 2006 to February 2009, he was a guest host on radio station KBQI, 107.9, in Albuquerque, on Thursday mornings.

Filmography

Film and Television
Year Title Role Notes
1964 Bewitched Mr. Johnson Episode: "A Vision of Sugar Plums"
1965 The Farmer's Daughter Manfred Episode: "Katy by Moonlight"
1965–70 I Dream of Jeannie Major Roger Healey Main role (131 episodes)
1965 My Mother the Car Phil Durkin Episode: "The De-Fenders"
1965 The Farmer's Daughter Gallery Manager Episode: "Forever Is a Cast Iron Mess"
1969 In Name Only Peter Garrity TV film
1971 The Barefoot Executive Navigator Feature film
1971 Inside O.U.T. Ron Hart TV pilot episode
1972 Love, American Style Larry Segment "Love and the Single Sister"
1972 Getting Together McAdam Episode: "Broken-Hearted Melody"
1972 The Mary Tyler Moore Show Peter "Pete" Peterson Episode: "His Two Right Arms"
1972–78 The Bob Newhart Show Howard Borden Main role (140 episodes)
1972 Love, American Style Donald Baxter Segment "Love and the Country Girl"
1978 Murder at the Mardi Gras Jack Murphy TV film
1978 Flying High Bob Griffen Episode: "Fear of Cheesecake"
1978 Flying High Bob Griffen Episode: "A Hairy Yak Plays Musical Chairs Eagerly"
1979 Sweepstakes Fred Episode #1.1
1979 Rendezvous Hotel Walter Grainger TV film
1979 CHiPs Balford Episodes: "Roller Disco" (Parts 1 & 2)
1979 The Love Boat Paul Turner Segment: "Rent a Family" (Parts 1 & 2)
1980 Valentine Magic on Love Island Charles TV film
1980 Alone at Last Greg Elliott TV film
1981 Aloha Paradise Curtis Shea Main role (8 episodes)
1982 The Powers of Matthew Star Frank Trenton Episode: "Daredevil"
1983 Trapper John, M.D. Mr. Stevens Episode: "The Spy Who Bugged Me"
1983 Small & Frye Dr. Hanratty Main role (6 episodes)
1985 Comedy Factory The Mayor Episode: "Honey, It's the Mayor"
1985 I Dream of Jeannie... Fifteen Years Later Roger Healey TV film
1987–89 ALF Dr. Larry Dykstra Recurring role (4 episodes)
1988–89 Starting from Scratch Dr. James Shepherd Main role (22 episodes)
1990 Newhart Sam Leary Episode: "Good Neighbor Sam"
1990 The Munsters Today Count Strimpkin Episode: "Thicker Than Water"
1991 I Still Dream of Jeannie Roger Healey TV film
1991 The Bob Newhart Show: 19th Anniversary Special Howard Borden TV special
1991 Alligator II: The Mutation Mayor Anderson Direct-to-video film
1992 Bob Vic Victor Episode: "A Streetcar Named Congress Douglas"
1993 Bob Vic Victor Episode: "I'm Getting Remarried in the Morning"
1997 George and Leo The Pilot Episode: "The Cameo Show"
1997 The Naked Truth Doc Episode: "He Ain't Famous, He's My Brother"
1997 Caroline in the City Charlie's Father Episode: "Caroline and the Bad Trip"
1997 Caroline in the City Charlie's Father Episode: "Caroline and the Decanter"
2010 Horrorween GrandPa Feature film

See also

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Bill Daily's Gemlike Assists to Make 'Dream of Jeannie' a Hit". Schenectedy Gazette. October 19, 1968. p. 13.
  2. Trott, William C. (June 1, 1987). "People in the News". The Bryan Times. p. 8.

External links

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