Hollywood marriages are a dime a dozen . The vast majority of celebrity couples wind up filing for divorce before the ink on their marriage certificate has time to dry.
But then there are the exceptions that prove the rule, and among them are William Daniels and his wife, Bonnie Bartlett . Have a look below and discover their secret to being happily married for more than 71 years .
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If you grew up in the ’90s, then odds are you’re very familiar with ‘Boy Meets World’.
Boy Meets World was a coming-of-age sitcom that showcased the life and growing pains of Cory Matthews. With the help of his best friend, Shawn Hunter, and future wife Topanga Lawrence, Cory navigates the highs and lows of adolescence and young adulthood.
The show ran for seven seasons and even spawned its own spin-off series.
Girl Meets World followed a similar premise, only the story unfolded through the eyes of Cory and Topanga’s daughter, Riley Matthews. Despite gaining a loyal following, Girl Meets World was canceled after three seasons.
A man whom you will recall from both series is an actor by the name of William Daniels — better known as Mr. Feeny.
In Boy Meets World , Mr. Feeny was Cory’s neighbor, his teacher, and eventually his principal. He was a tough, no-nonsense man who served as the show’s main authority figure.
Someone who you may not immediately recall from ‘Boy Meets World’ is Dean Lila Bolander.
Lila Bolander (Bonnie Bartlett) was the Dean of Pennbrook University. She’s the person who interviews and eventually accepts Eric Mathews into the school, even though he initially blew off his interview.
Later on in the show, Lila and Mr. Feeny become romantically involved.
After dating for some time, Mr. Feeny and Lila tie the knot in Season 6’s “State of the Unions” episode. But what many fans may not realize is that Lila and Mr. Feeny are married in real life, too.
William and Bonnie fell in love and married one another in 1951.
Over the course of their marriage, they played husband and wife on two separate occasions. Once in 1980’s St. Elsewhere and then again in the aforementioned Boy Meets World.
Although they’ve been together for more than 71 years, it hasn’t always been wine and roses.
In a 2017 interview with People , Bartlett revealed just how close their marriage came to falling apart, and how at one point she was ready to leave.
“You insisted we come to Hollywood and I didn’t want to,” she reminded her husband. “It was at a very tough time. I’d lost my niece.”
Bartlett also went on to talk about how her husband’s drinking was slowly spiraling out of control.
“And he was drinking after the show. Sometimes you didn’t know — I mean I didn’t know if he was going to come home or not,” she said.
“He did always, but he was drinking. And god knows what else he was doing .”
Bartlett explained that the only thing that kept her from leaving at that time was her children.
As she sat pondering the decision of whether or not to stay or go, Daniels was gallivanting off to Hollywood, looking for work.
The estranged couple reconnected at the funeral of Bartlett’s niece.
“I got her to come out here on the proposition that it will just be for the summer ,” Williams explained. “And then we can go back to New York.”
But once Daniels introduced his wife to his agents, everything changed.
Daniels’ agents noticed that Bartlett herself was quite the actress in her own right. They began sending her out on jobs and she wound up booking every last one of them.
“Suddenly, working like that and living in a little house in the valley with the boys and finding a nice school for them and everything, I sort of connected with him again,” Bartlett said.
Since that one rocky moment, Daniels and Bartlett have been a constant and immovable force in one another’s lives.
In a recent interview with ‘Forbes’, each of them was asked about their favorite thing about the other person.
Daniels said that for him, it all comes down to mutual respect. He also said that Bartlett is smarter than him, as well as a better actor and that he does his best just to hold on.
Whereas for Bartlett, what she loves most about her husband is his sense of humor.
That, and the fact that Daniels is a great father. Together, these two make one incredible couple and their love should serve as an inspiration for us all.
