Bill Daily

Bill Daily
Daily as Roger Healey, 1969
Born	(1927-08-30) August 30, 1927 (age 89) Des Moines, Iowa, U.S.
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.

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. 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".

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.