In the role that won him an Emmy Award for best actor in a comedy series, William Windom played John Monroe, a writer-cartoonist for a New York magazine who harnessed an active fantasy life to escape the doldrums of his middle-class
Connecticut existence. Based on the work of American humorist James Thurber, My World and Welcome to It survived only one season on NBC.
But for Windom, the program marked the start of a long-term relationship with Thurber's whimsical Americana. The actor subsequently developed a oneman show based on Thurber's writings that he toured across the United States.
Windom died Thursday at his home in Woodacre, Calif., north of San Francisco, said his wife, Patricia. He was 88.
With his genial features, affable manner and extensive theatre training, Windom was an in-demand television character actor for decades.
He chalked up scores of guest credits, including episodes of Twilight Zone and Star Trek, and the '60s comedy series The Farmer's Daughter, in which he played a widowed Minnesota congressman. He also appeared in more than 50 segments of Murder, She Wrote, in which he played a Maine country doctor opposite series star Angela Lansbury's Jessica Fletcher.
