Mr. Feeny from “Boy Meets World” has some important advice for us all

By Jill layton

April 7, 2017

By Jill layton

April 7, 2017

The world’s greatest advice giver is back, because we can never have too much good advice bestowed upon us. William Daniels, aka Mr. Feeny from Boy Meets World, blessed us all with such a gift by chatting with BuzzFeed. He answered some questions from fans of the show, and now we’re all a little wiser (and feeling the nostalgia pretty hard).

Daniels has had a long career in TV and film — Mr. Feeny only being one of his characters (the best, most insightful character, obvs). He chronicled his six decades as a working actor in his memoir, THERE I GO AGAIN: How I Came to Be Mr. Feeny, John Adams, Dr. Craig, KITT, and Many Others. He also stopped by BuzzFeed to answer some burning questions the day before his 90th birthday.

That’s right, guys. Mr. Feeny is 90!!!

First of all, Daniels almost didn’t accept the part of Mr. Feeny because he was worried the character wouldn’t be portrayed in the best light.

"I was sent a script by Michael Jacobs, the producer, and I read it," Daniels said. "I went to a table read and then I went to his office and quit. I said, 'I don’t want to make fun of a teacher. They need our respect, they’re underpaid, and they’re very important.' And he said, 'I don’t intend to do that. In fact, the person in my mind that I am going to be writing is a teacher that I had in high school, that I thought very much of and became a mentor of mine. So I have a great deal of respect for this part.'

Is it possible to love him even more now than we did in the ’90s? Because we do.

And as for his favorite piece of advice he ever gave as Mr. Feeny? “I spoke to the class and I said to them, ‘Dream, try, and do good,’” Daniels explained. “Boy, I was close to tears, frankly — it had been seven seasons. But that was it, that is what I’ll always remember, yes.”

Now, when it comes to the advice he’d give to today’s younger generation, the actor stated:

"Pay attention to the politics — I'm worried about where we are right now. These are difficult times and young people have gotta form an opinion and they’ve gotta act on it. And by act on it I mean, they have to vote when there's a chance to vote, and use their own judgments about what's going on these days because, I think, these are difficult times, you know? Without getting into it too much."