Who played Commodore Matt Decker?

William Windom played Commodore Matt Decker in Star Trek: The Original Series.

Windom portrayed Decker in “The Doomsday Machine,” the sixth episode of the show’s second season, first broadcast on October 20, 1967. Decker is the commanding officer of the USS Constellation, whose crew has been destroyed by the planet-killing machine known as the Planet Killer. When the Enterprise finds him, he is the sole survivor and is suffering severe psychological trauma.

The character’s grief and desperation drive the episode’s central conflict. Decker wants to attack the machine directly, while Captain Kirk and Spock seek a strategy that can stop it without throwing away another starship. Windom’s performance gives the commodore a tragic mixture of authority, guilt, and obsession.

The role was nearly offered to Robert Ryan, but Windom ultimately became strongly associated with Decker. He later reprised the character in the 2005 fan-produced series Star Trek: New Voyages. Decker is also the father of Willard Decker, who appears in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.