Uncle Daniel Ponder Peter MacNicol Uncle Daniel is the generous but simple son of the richest man in Clay County, Mississippi. He bestows everything from thrift shop dresses to the family gas station on friends and strangers. When his father and niece decide it's time for him to marry, he has no objections, but he does have his own idea about who should be his bride. While in the movie Daniel, charmed by the doll-like Bonnie Dee, leaves Miss Teacake at the altar, in the book they marry, but the marriage "didn't hold out." Only after they are separated does Bonnie Dee arrive on the scene. "As an actor, I respond to the extravagance of the characters," says actor Peter MacNicol. "They're flamboyant, quietly mad. The dialogue is always surprising and a little skewed from naturalism." Born in Dallas, Texas, MacNicol made his movie début in the 1982 Disney fantasy, Dragonslayer. Next came his breakthrough screen acting role as the aspiring writer Stingo, opposite Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline, in the film adaptation of William Styron's Sophie's Choice. His career since has ranged from the subtle drama of the television series Chicago Hope to the broad comedy of Ghostbusters 2. He has starred on Broadway in Crimes of the Heart and Black Comedy/White Liars and in New York Shakespeare Festival productions of Romeo and Juliet, Richard II, and Twelfth Night. He is probably best know, however, for his performance as quirky lawyer John Cage in the television comedy Ally MacBeal. In Welty's words: You'd know it was Uncle Daniel the minute you saw him. He's unmistakable. He's big and well known. He has the Ponder head -- large, of course, and well set, with short white hair over it thick and curly, growing down his forehead round like a little bib. He has Grandma's complexion. And big, forget-me-not blue eyes like mine, and puts on a sweet red bow tie every morning, and carries a large-size Stetson in his hand -- always just swept it off to somebody. He dresses fit to kill, you know, in a snow-white suit. But do you know he's up in his fifties now? Don't believe it if you don't want to. And still the sweetest, most unspoiled thing in the world ... The Ponder Heart, chapter 1