Name: William Windom
Date of Birth: 28 September 1923 Five-year-old William Windom was a pupil of kindergarten teacher Margaret Hamilton until she threw him out for rambunctious behavior. His great grandfather, politician William Windom (1827-1891), served in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate as a Republican for Minnesota; later became Secretary of the Treasury under James Garfield and Benjamin Harrison. His own character of Glen Morley in "The Farmer's Daughter" (1963) was also a congressman from Minnesota. Chess enthusiast. ... During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army with the 508th parachute infantry. Married five times, he has four children: Rachel, Heather Juliet, Hope and Rebel Russell, the youngest. Windom bought a small island for $1.00 in Windom, Minnesota, so named for his great-grandfather, a one-time member of Lincoln's Kitchen Cabinet. The island's a wildlife refuge. He's owned seven different small boats since 1953 and won numerous sailing trophies. Has been profiled in Chess Life magazine twice (he is a tournament player with a penchant for unusual openings; one of his positions had turned up in a Chess Life problem column before the magazine interviewed him). The second time, in 1988, he appeared with his friend, Claude Akins (who had been on "Murder, She Wrote" (1984) as "Captain Ethan Craig" the season before Windom became "Dr. Seth Hazlitt") playing a game in Windom's back yard. During an interview for the article, Windom said that he planned to have a large Rook (the castle-shaped piece) made of Nubian marble and cap it with a compass rose, "and one day my ashes will be buried underneath it". Read more William Windom movies (actor)User Comments |
