William Daniels as Commissioner Ebbers in Blades of Glory (2007)
For viewers who know William Daniels as the original voice of KITT in Knight Rider, his turn in the 2007 comedy Blades of Glory is a small pleasure. He plays Commissioner Ebbers, a supporting part in a film built around Will Ferrell and Jon Heder as rival skaters. It is also a film with a Knight Rider footnote, because one of its stars, Will Arnett, was briefly the voice of KITT in the 2008 revival movie that featured David Hasselhoff.
The film was directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon and written by Jeff Cox, Craig Cox, John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky. Ben Stiller, Stuart Cornfeld and John Jacobs produced it. Chazz Michael Michaels and Jimmy MacElroy take their rivalry too far at the Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City and are banned from competition. Years later, they exploit a loophole that lets them compete as a pair. The film opened in the United States on March 30, 2007. Daniels appears as Commissioner Ebbers among a large supporting ensemble that includes Craig T. Nelson, William Fichtner, Jenna Fischer and Amy Poehler.
Where Daniels stood in 2007
By the time Blades of Glory arrived, Daniels had spent more than six decades as a working actor. He won two Emmys for playing Dr. Mark Craig on St. Elsewhere (in 1985 and 1986). He then played the strict but loving George Feeny on Boy Meets World from 1993 to 2000. In the years just before the film he was a familiar guest face: he voiced KITT, uncredited, in the 2006 comedy The Benchwarmers, and he played another commissioner, Andrew Schmidt, in two episodes of The Closer in 2006.
What the part asked of him
Ebbers is a cameo-sized role, and that is the point of casting Daniels in it. A comedy like this one, with broad physical gags and extravagant costumes by designer Julie Weiss, benefits from a few performers who bring authority and a dry manner. Daniels had built a career on exactly that: the exacting teacher, the acid-tongued surgeon, the voice of a supercomputer on wheels. He did not need screen time to register.
The Knight Rider connection
Knight Rider fans have a second reason to notice this film. When NBC remade Knight Rider as a TV movie, Val Kilmer replaced Will Arnett as the voice of KITT. Arnett had already completed his voice work. He told Variety he was excited about the part but, because of his long relationship with General Motors as the voice of GMC Trucks, had to withdraw. The 2008 film aired on NBC on February 17, 2008, with Hasselhoff returning as Michael Knight and Kilmer voicing the car. Daniels, KITT’s original voice, was not part of that production, but a year earlier he had shared a cast list with the man first hired to succeed him in spirit.
What came next
Daniels kept working in character parts. In 2008 he played Judge Milton Brody on Boston Legal. In 2012 he appeared in Grey’s Anatomy as Dr. Craig Thomas, and from 2014 to 2017 he returned as Mr. Feeny in five episodes of Girl Meets World. KITT stayed in his repertoire: he was credited as Kitt in The Creeps in 2025.
Where he is now
On October 14, 2025, at age 98, Daniels made a surprise appearance on Dancing with the Stars. He celebrated his 99th birthday on March 31, 2026. That year he also appeared at San Diego Rocket Con and Pasadena Comic Con. His official site lists The Hollywood Show at the Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel on October 24, 2026 as an upcoming appearance.
Seen in that light, Commissioner Ebbers is one more entry in an unusually long career: a brief, well-judged supporting turn in one of the better-known studio comedies of 2007.
Header photo: Alan Light / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0, modified: resized and blended with an AI-generated background. The person in the header is a real photo; only the background is AI-generated.
