William Windom

Veteran character lead of theater, film and television since the 1950s, William Windom long excelled at playing harried businessmen, discontented suburbanites, and other middle-class guys under pressure. In his maturity, Windom became comfortably ensconced in roles as venerable authority figures - fathers, judges, clergymen and other professionals. 1960s-era sitcom cultists remember his Emmy-winning portrayal of John Monroe, an anxiety-ridden cartoonist who shifted back-and-forth between the real world and the animated realm of his sketchpad, on "My World... and Welcome to It" (NBC, 1969-1970). This charming show was based on the writings and drawings of humorist James Thurber whom Windom later portrayed on stage in two one-man shows. Windom remained a frequent presence on TV through the decades in guest spots (memorably as a vengeful starship captain in "The Doomsday Machine" episode of "Star Trek"), TV-movies and in the recurring role of Dr. Seth Hazlitt on CBS's long-running mystery hit "Murder, She Wrote."