American film, stage, television, and voice actor David Ogden Stiers, best known for his role as Major Winchester on M*A*S*H, sadly passed away on March 3, 2018. His agent, Mitchell K. Stubbs announced his death via Twitter saying, “I am very sad to report that David died this morning March 3, 2018 peacefully at his home in Newport, Oregon after a courageous battle with bladder cancer. His talent was only surpassed by his heart.” He was 75 years old.
Stiers was born on October 31, 1942 and was primarily raised in Eugene, Oregon, where he graduated from North Eugene High School and briefly attended the University of Oregon. Later on, Stiers moved to San Francisco and began performing with the California Shakespeare Theater, San Francisco Actors Workshop, and the improv group The Committee. During the 1960s, Stiers relocated to New York City to study at the Juilliard School, where he was mentored by actor John Houseman. In 1974, Stiers made his Broadway debut in The Magic Show in the minor role of Feldman, which ran for four years. He later appeared in several other Broadway productions, including The Three Sisters and The Beggar’s Opera.
Early television credits for Stiers included roles on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Kojak, Rhoda, and Charlie’s Angels. In 1977, Stiers joined the cast of the hit CBS sitcom M*A*S*H. as Major Charles Emerson Winchester III. This role as the multifaceted Boston aristocrat earned Stiers two Emmy nominations, once in 1981 and the other in 1982. Following the M*A*S*H series finale in 1983, Stiers made regular guest appearances on series such as North and South, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Murder, She Wrote, Matlock, Touched by an Angel, Wings, and Frasier. His portrayal of Olympic Committee founder William Milligan Sloane in the NBC miniseries The First Olympics: Athens 1896 earned his Stiers third Emmy nomination in 1984.
Stiers later made recurring appearances as Reverend Purdy on the successful USA Network series The Dead Zone alongside Anthony Michael Hall. Stiers provided voice work for dozens of film and television projects, including George Lucas’ THX 1138, Ric Burns’ New York: A Documentary Film, 2010 Peabody Award winner The Lord is Not on Trial Here Today and several episodes of the documentary television series American Experience. He collaborated with Disney on several animated features, including Beauty and the Beast as Cogsworth, Pocahontas as Governor Ratcliffe and Wiggins, The Hunchback of Notre Dame as the Archdeacon, Atlantis: The Lost Empire as Mr. Harcourt, and Lilo & Stitch as Jumba.
He also lent his voice in Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman as Penguin along with voicing Solovar for episodes of Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. In additon to voicing characters on Teacher’s Pet, Hoodwinked, Regular Show, and the video games Icewind Dale, Kingdom Hearts II, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, and Myst V: End of Ages. Stiers was also known for the eight Perry Mason television movies he made between 1986 and 1988 in which his prosecuting attorney served as the Hamilton-Burger-type to Raymond Burr’s Mason. Other film work included roles in Oh, God!, The Man With One Red Shoe, The Accidental Tourist, and four Woody Allen films. His last screen appearance was in the 2017 television movie, The Joneses Unplugged.
