Due to stormy weather, William Windem [sic], a former
paratrooper who has a leading role in this week's Casino Theatre
production, "Bell, Book and Candle," took four days to sail his 16-foot
sloop to Newport from Westhampton, Long Island. Windem and a
fellow actor, Paul Leslie, were caught in last Thursday's storm and had
to put in to New London.
His sloop is named Wika after a 10-year-old Dutch girl, the first
person he met when the 50-8th Parachute infantry landed in Holland in
World War II. Windem and Leslie will sail Sunday in the Wika for
Dennis, Mass., where they have another theatre engagement. |
American Actor. Windom, who served in
the U.S. Army as a paratrooper in World War II, was the great-grandson
of the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury of the same name. His first motion
picture role was that of Mr. Gilmer, the prosecutor in 1962's Academy
Award-winning 'To Kill a Mockingbird'.
Other films he went on to
appear in were 'For Love or Money' (1963), 'One Man's Way' (1964), 'Hour
of the Gun' (1967), 'The Angry Breed' (1968), 'The Mephisto Waltz'
(1971) and 'Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971).
In 1969, he received an
Emmy Award for his work on the television comedy series 'My World and
Welcome to It'. Other television shows he guest-starred in were 'The
Farmer's Daughter', 'Star Trek', 'The Fugitive', 'Twilight Zone', 'Night
Gallery', 'Matt Houston', 'Highway to Heaven' and appeared in 'Murder,
She Wrote', as Dr. Seth Hazlitt, over a 10-year period.
(bio by: Louis M.) |
William Windom, a member of Company B
during WW-II died on August 16, 2012 at the age of 88.
Windom had an extensive career on
television and won an Emmy Award for the TV comedy series "My World And
Welcome To It". He was known to many for his appearances on
episodes of "Twilight Zone" and "Star Trek" and specially for his role
of a country doctor on "Murder, She Wrote".
Of particular significance was his movie role of the prosecuting
attorney in the movie "To Kill a Mockingbird".
"Bill," as he was known to 508th buddies, appeared more recently in his
stage comedy "The Wind Breakers".
As Bill explained, “I
told a TV interviewer that I had cracked the 'Windtalkers' code while
serving with the 508 in WWII. I was known in S2 as the
WINDBREAKER. He apparently wove many stories about his experiences
during the war into skits the performed in the comedy routine.
Funeral details were not made public,
a memorial service was scheduled for September 15 in Los Angeles, CA.
He was cremated and the disposition of his ashes is unknown. |