William Edward Daily (August 30, 1927 – September 4, 2018) was an American actor and comedian known for his sitcom work as Major Roger Healey on I Dream of Jeannie and Howard Borden on The Bob Newhart Show.
Early life and early career
William Edward Daily was born on August 30, 1927, in Des Moines, Iowa, the son of Fern Ellis and Raymonde Daily. Two weeks after his son was born, Daily's father left his home to buy a loaf of bread and never returned. In 1939, Daily and his family moved from Des Moines to Chicago, Illinois, where he spent the rest of his youth. then left home to become a professional musician, playing upright bass with jazz bands in numerous clubs across the Midwest.
Comedy career
1950s to early 1960s
Following his time in the Army, Daily began performing stand-up comedy and gradually began playing some of the bigger clubs in the U.S. After graduating from the Goodman Theatre School, Daily worked for the NBC television station WMAQ in Chicago as an announcer and floor manager. He eventually became a staff director. During his days off, Daily drove to Cleveland to write, direct and perform on The Mike Douglas Show.
In 1988, Daily tried his hand again at starring roles, this time as another doctor on the sitcom Starting From Scratch. The show fared slightly better than Frye, but was canceled after one season. Daily's most notable post-Newhart role was another supporting character, that of Larry the psychiatrist on 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.
Daily twice 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, Daily 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: The 19th Anniversary Special, broadcast on CBS in November of that year. In 1997, he was a guest star on Caroline in the City. In 1980, he married Vivian Sanchez, with whom he traveled on the road, performing Lover's Leap for two years. He and Sanchez later divorced. His manager and publicist was Patterson Lundquist.