A worker on the set of Adam-12 said that William Boyett ''doesn't realize how good he is''

The actor stayed humble.

Everett Collection

Despite the fact that William Boyett had made a name for himself as an actor in programs like Dragnet, he was never able to come to terms with the extent of his fame.

By the time he began working on Adam-12, starring as Sergeant Mac Donald, Boyett stayed humble, grateful for the opportunity to work with costars like Martin Milner and Kent McCord.

"I'm fully aware that Marty and Kent are the stars," said Boyett during an interview with the Daily News-Post. "It's a pleasure working with them. I knew Marty from earlier films, and I'd always felt he was a great actor, but I didn't realize how great until I started working with him. He's better than I thought. Kent surprises you. You do a scene with him, and he's so relaxed that it seems he's playing it for laughs. Then you see the film, and he comes off just great - very natural. He's got a lot of talent."

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Despite Boyett's modesty, the rest of the cast and crew were able to see just how impressive he truly was.

"Bill doesn't realize how good he is," said one set member. "There are many times on location when fans will walk up during a break and want to talk to him or get his autograph. He sees them coming, and he just steps aside so they can get closer to Marty and Kent, figuring that's who they want to see. It never dawns on him that they want his autograph."

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12 Comments

beachrumpirate 11 days ago
Bill Boyett is one of my favorites! Always likable…always dependable. ‘Highway Patrol’, ‘Dragnet’, ‘Emergency’, ‘Death Valley Days’, etc… Probably my favorite role was a comedic one on ‘Mr Ed’ on part 2 of the ‘Psychoanalysis’. Unfortunately the tv cut of the episode has his parts edited out. It’s on YouTube…definitely worth the watch.

And he was discovered in the ‘80s by horror fans in a memorable role in ‘The Hidden’.
Bluerabbit2 26 days ago
He even had a cameo in the pilot of the original "Hawaii Five-0 ' series. He got shoved out of the way by Jack Lord when he came in to confront Leslie Nielsen about putting a tail on him.
tootsieg 26 days ago
William Boyett pops up in films as well as TV.
Zombieou812 26 days ago
He was also in Highway Patrol and Emergency.
KentuckyPhil69 27 days ago
Mr Boyett was my favorite character on Adam-12. Love his portrayal of Mac!! Extremely talented and very underrated!! Also watch him on Highway Patrol on MeTV!!
I always get a kick out of seeing him pop up on so many series as a cop, sometimes he's even a bad guy.
That's very true... Kinda feel for him too as an ex Navy man... Like he was
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