Harold Gould, a widely recognizable character actor in film and television who specialized, especially late in his career, in playing suave, well-dressed gentlemen in popular sitcoms, died Saturday in Woodland Hills, Calif. He was 86. The cause was prostate cancer, said Jaime Larkin, a spokeswoman for the Motion Picture and Television Fund. Gould lived at its retirement community. Gould was probably best known for two television roles in which he played dignified, self-possessed and understanding men trying to look out for the women in their lives. In the 1970s, on 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' and later on its spinoff, 'Rhoda,' he played Martin Morgenstern, the father of Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper), the best friend of Mary Richards (Moore). It was a role for a charmer; Martin was the patient and consoling parent, a foil for his brassy wife, Ida (Nancy Walker). A decade and a half or so later, he was a regular guest star on 'The Golden Girls' as a sweetly dashing widower who courts, more or less successfully, the sweetly ditzy Rose Nylund (Betty White). Gould, who had a Ph.D. in dramatic speech and literature from Cornell, taught acting in college before he became a professional actor. But in spite of his late start, few actors can boast a resume as long. Gould appeared in theater productions on and Off Broadway in New York and in regional theaters around the country, including 'King Lear' at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in 1992. He played dozens of character roles in movies, including the dapper grifter Kid Twist in 'The Sting' (1973), the Oscar-winning buddy picture that starred Paul Newman and Robert Redford as con men; a Russian count in Woody Allen's send-up of epic literature, 'Love and Death' (1975); and a greedy corporate executive named Engulf in Mel Brooks' 1976 slapstick comedy, 'Silent Movie.' But Gould was most of all a fixture on television with a familiar face, with or without what came to be his signature mustache. In the 1960s he appeared on 'Dennis the Menace,' 'The Donna Reed Show,' 'Hazel,' 'National Velvet,' 'Perry Mason,' 'Mister Ed,' 'Dr. Kildare,' 'The Twilight Zone,' 'The Virginian,' '12 O'Clock High,' 'The Fugitive,' 'Judd for the Defense' and 'Hogan's Heroes,' among other shows. In 1965, he played Marlo Thomas' father in the pilot episode of 'That Girl.' (Lew Parker played the part in the series.) In the 1970s, in addition to his stints on 'Mary Tyler Moore' and 'Rhoda,' he was seen on 'Cannon,' 'Mannix,' 'Hawaii Five-O,' 'Medical Story,' 'Police Story,' 'Family,' 'Soap' and 'The Love Boat.' In a 1972 episode of 'Love, American Style' that was the progenitor of the hit series 'Happy Days,' he played Howard Cunningham, the Middle American father of the Middle American son played by Ron Howard; in the series the father was played by Tom Bosley. In the 1980s Gould appeared on 'St. Elsewhere,' 'Webster,' 'Trapper John, M.D.,' 'LA Law' and 'Night Court'; in the 1990s, on 'Dallas,' 'Lois and Clark,' 'Touched by an Angel' and 'Felicity'; and in this century on 'The King of Queens,' 'Judging Amy' and 'Cold Case.' Harold Vernon Goldstein was born in Schenectady, N.Y., on Dec. 10, 1923. His father worked for the post office. Harold served in the Army during World War II, seeing action in France as a mortar gunner. On his return he graduated from New York State College for Teachers (now the State University at Albany) and enrolled in the graduate drama program at Cornell. He taught drama at Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Va., and the University of California, Riverside. Gould is survived by his wife, the former Lea Shampanier, whom he married in 1950; a daughter, Deborah; two sons, Joshua and Lowell; and five grandchildren. 