Bonnie Bartlett, 96, and William Daniels, 98, Have Been Married for 75 Years! Inside the ‘St. Elsewhere’ Costars’ Real-Life Relationship
'Little House on the Prairie' actress Bartlett said, 'I never expected it to be a marvelous, wonderful thing'
A marriage that lasts 75 years is a rare achievement in any scenario, and especially so if husband and wife are in the entertainment industry. Veteran actors Bonnie Bartlett and William Daniels, who have been happily married since 1951 and will be celebrating their 75th anniversary later this year, are Hollywood’s longest-lasting couple—and the dynamic duo, now in their 90s, have been partners in life and work, as they’ve shared the screen in shows like St. Elsewhere and Boy Meets World. Read on to learn about this one-of-a-kind celebrity marriage and the projects Bartlett and Daniels have collaborated on over the years.
Bonnie Bartlett and William Daniels’ college meet-cute: ‘I loved his leather jacket’
Bonnie Bartlett and William Daniels met during a drama class when they were students at Northwestern University. In a joint interview with People, Daniels recalled, “I was pretty cocky. The teacher was asking us to read because he was casting a play … I listened to these other kids audition, reading from a script, and I thought they were terrible. I thought, ‘I don’t think I want to be in this turkey,’ until I heard a voice in the back. I looked back, and there sat this blonde who obviously was a good actress.”
After that fateful class, Daniels asked Bartlett out on a date, but she said he was too short (both actors are around 5-foot-7). Even though Bartlett initially rejected Daniels, she told People, “I was good at pushing men away. But also, I loved his leather jacket. Oh, I loved his leather jacket. It was really exciting,” and soon enough, they were an item.
Daniels impressed Bartlett by giving her a rose on one of their early dates, but the actress admitted that their 1951 marriage was mandated by the conventions of the era, saying, “When we got married, I thought we just got married so that we could have sex, really. We got married for the expediency of it. This was not a romantic thing. It was probably as much mental and sexual. It was just a meeting of the minds and a meeting of the bodies.” The unromantic origins of this marriage only serve to make the fact that it lasted so long more impressive.
Overcoming struggles and collaborating onscreen: ‘We respect each other’s talents’
Bartlett and Daniels faced their share of challenges early on, as both actors had affairs. In 1961, Bartlett gave birth to a son who died the next day. After going through this tragedy, the couple adopted two sons, Robert, now a graphic designer, and Michael, who now works in theater.
While the couple navigated personal trauma and infidelities, they were simultaneously building up their careers. Bartlett and Daniels both started appearing on TV in the mid-’50s, and Bartlett found early success on the soap opera Love of Life. In the ’60s, Bartlett appeared in episodes of The Doctors, The Patty Duke Show and The Jackie Gleason Show, while Daniels starred in the short-lived series Captain Nice and played Dustin Hoffman’s father in The Graduate.
From 1974 to 1979, Bartlett had one of her most beloved roles when she played Grace Snider Edwards, the kindhearted postmistress on Little House on the Prairie. Daniels also brought American history to life on TV, as he played President John Quincy Adams on the 1976 miniseries The Adams Chronicles. Bartlett and Daniels then shared the screen in the films Killer on Board (1977) and All Night Long (1981).
In the ’80s, when the actors were already married for three decades and had independently worked on dozens of projects, Daniels starred as Dr. Mark Craig on the medical drama St. Elsewhere. Bartlett had a recurring role as his wife, Ellen Craig. Originally, she was only supposed to appear in one episode, but she and Daniels were so good together that her character was elevated to a series regular. In 1986, Bartlett and Daniels both won Emmy Awards for their work on the show, making them the first husband and wife to win Emmys for the same project since Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, the stars of the TV movie The Magnificent Yankee, in 1965.
Bartlett and Daniels’ on-and-offscreen chemistry delighted viewers, and in the ’90s, Daniels won over a new generation of fans as the fatherly teacher Mr. Feeny on the teen sitcom Boy Meets World. In later seasons of the show, Bartlett played a university dean who became (you guessed it!) his wife. They played a married couple once again in a 2003 episode of Touched by an Angel.
Daniels said he always found it easy to work with his wife, explaining, “We work well together. We respect each other’s talents and we know each other so well that we can make certain that she learns her lines” and sweetly calling Bartlett a “better actor than me.”
The secret to 75 years of marriage: ‘The love has never stopped’
Bartlett, now 96, and Daniels, now 98, have both written memoirs and been candid about the challenges that have arisen throughout their relationship, and inevitably, they’ve often been asked how they’ve managed to make their marriage work for so many decades. The words they’ve shared about the longevity of their love have been beautifully simple. Bartlett said that she and Daniels “had to grow up together,” and as she described it, “Bill and I have moved forward day-by-day and eventually, the days added up. We’ve been happy together and sad together, and somehow stayed together for seven decades.”
Through thick and thin, Bartlett said, “Both of us really wanted to be together. The love has never stopped.” Daniels has observed, “What you really have to do is learn to respect the other person and their feelings and try to be as easy to live with as you possibly can,” and in an Instagram post celebrating their 70th anniversary, he called Bartlett “my biggest win in life.”
There’s no grand plan to make a marriage last 75 years, and by showing up every day with love, humor and mutual respect, Bonnie Bartlett and William Daniels have gracefully achieved something that initially seemed impossible. As Bartlett put it, “I never expected it to be a marvelous, wonderful thing. I had no anticipation of that at all, and it just happened.”
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