William Windom | Emmy-winning actor, 88

William Windom, 88, who won an Emmy Award playing an Everyman drawn from the pages of James Thurber but who may be best remembered for his roles on

Star Trek

and

Murder, She Wrote

, died on Thursday at his home in Woodacre, Calif., north of San Francisco. The cause was congestive heart failure, said his wife, Patricia.

Mr. Windom won the Emmy for best actor in a comedy series in 1970 for My World and Welcome to It, a whimsical program based on James Thurber's humorous essays and fantastic cartoons. He later toured with a solo show based on Thurber's works.

But filmgoers and TV viewers may associate him with roles that, though also fanciful, had a distinctly darker tone. He teamed up with Rod Serling on episodes of The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery; played the president in Escape From the Planet of the Apes; and had a memorable role in an early episode of Star Trek. He was a guest star on dozens of other television shows.

It was not until 1985 that Mr. Windom found another role that drew upon his avuncular side with such success: He appeared in more than 50 episodes of Murder, She Wrote as the leading physician of Cabot Cove, Maine, and a close friend of Jessica Fletcher, the lead character played by Angela Lansbury.

Mr. Windom, who was born in Manhattan, attended Williams College in Massachusetts. He was an Army paratrooper in World War II.

He made his first film appearance as the prosecuting attorney in the 1962 drama To Kill a Mockingbird, sparring with Gregory Peck's defense lawyer.

He is survived by his wife of 37 years, Patricia, four children, and four grandchildren. - N.Y. Times News Service