TLDR: Bill Daily built an entire career playing the same lovable type of character twice, first as Major Healey on I Dream of Jeannie and later as Howard Borden on The Bob Newhart Show. He really was on Bewitched too, despite decades of fans insisting he wasn’t.
Bill Daily’s childhood started with abandonment. His father left the family two weeks after Bill was born and never came back, leaving his mother to raise him alone in Des Moines before the family eventually moved to Chicago.
Daily struggled with undiagnosed dyslexia throughout school, which later forced him to memorize entire scripts word for word rather than rely on quick reads. He leaned into performance instead, studying music and drama and eventually becoming a professional jazz bassist playing nightclubs across the Midwest.
He Helped Launch Bob Newhart’s Career Before They Ever Acted Together
After a stint in the Army during the Korean War, Daily worked his way into Chicago television production, eventually landing at NBC affiliate WMAQ-TV.
While there, he asked a local accountant trying to break into comedy, Bob Newhart, to write a routine for a regional awards telecast.
That routine, “Abe Lincoln vs. Madison Avenue,” ended up as a track on Newhart’s breakout 1960 comedy album. The two men had no idea at the time that they’d end up co-starring together on television more than a decade later.
He Really Was on Bewitched
Fans have argued for years that Daily never appeared on Bewitched, assuming people were simply confusing it with I Dream of Jeannie. Actual network records prove otherwise.
Daily guest-starred in a 1964 Christmas episode called “A Vision of Sugar Plums,” playing a man arriving to adopt an orphaned boy.
That appearance happened just months before I Dream of Jeannie producer Sidney Sheldon spotted him in a table read and cast him as Major Healey instead.
Two Shows, One Very Specific Type of Character
On I Dream of Jeannie, Daily played Major Roger Healey, a scheming bachelor astronaut who constantly tried to exploit Jeannie’s magic for his own gain.
Five years after that show ended, Bob Newhart personally brought him onto his new sitcom to play Howard Borden, a chronically jet-lagged airline navigator who treated his neighbors’ apartment like his own.
Both characters shared the same trick: high-status, technically skilled professionals who were completely helpless in their own personal lives.
Newhart himself nicknamed Daily the show’s “bullpen man,” the reliable player you could send into any scene to reset the pacing without ever stealing focus from the leads.
His Friendship With Newhart Lasted Over 60 Years
Daily was married three times and adopted two children with his first wife before that marriage ended in 1976 after 27 years. He later remarried twice more, staying married to his third wife, Becky, until her death in 2010.
After retiring from acting, Daily settled in New Mexico, where he spent years visiting military veterans at a VA hospital every single week, drawing on his own service during the Korean War.
He died of natural causes on September 4, 2018, at age 91, with an estimated net worth of $4 million built over six decades of work.
When Daily died, Bob Newhart released a statement calling him one of the most positive people he’d ever known, saying their friendship stretched all the way back to their Chicago days in the 1950s.
You can read more about the shows that made them both famous in our full history of Bob Newhart’s two sitcoms.
Bill Daily, Frequently Asked Questions
Was Bill Daily really on Bewitched?
Yes, he guest-starred in a 1964 Christmas episode called “A Vision of Sugar Plums,” despite a long-running fan myth claiming he was never on the show.
Did Bill Daily actually play bass?
Yes, before his acting career he worked professionally as a jazz bassist, performing in nightclubs across the Midwest.
Were Bob Newhart and Bill Daily really friends?
Yes, their friendship dated back to the 1950s Chicago comedy scene, long before they ever worked together, and lasted until Daily’s death in 2018.
What was Bill Daily’s net worth when he died?
His net worth was estimated at $4 million at the time of his death in 2018.
