‘M.A.S.H.’ actor David Ogden Stiers dies at age 75
David Ogden Stiers, best known as the arrogant surgeon Maj. Charles Emerson Winchester III in the TV series “M.A.S.H.” and the voice of Cogsworth in the original “Beauty and the Beast,” has died at age 75.
His agent, Mitchell K. Stubbs, confirmed on Twitter that Stiers died of bladder cancer Saturday at his Newport, Oregon, home. Stubbs paid tribute to the man best known for his snooty portrayal of Winchester, saying his “talent was only surpassed by his heart.”
Stiers was born in Peoria, Illinois, in 1942 and moved to Eugene, Oregon, with his family. Yet he would get his major break playing the blue-blooded Bostonian Winchester, who replaced the departed Frank Burns (Larry Linville) at the 4077th MASH unit in Season 6 of the famed TV comedy set in the Korean War.
He starred on the show from 1977 until its landmark final episode in 1983, seen by 106 million people. The classical music-loving Winchester hitched a ride out of the MASH unit in the only vehicle available: a garbage truck.
“What better way to leave a garbage dump,” Winchester said in the finale.
Stiers was nominated for two Emmy Awards for the role, in 1981 and 1982. He would earn a third Emmy nod in 1984 for his role as William Milligan Sloane, founder of the U.S. Olympic Committee, in the miniseries “The First Olympics: Athens 1896.”
The resonant-sounding actor was famous for his animated voice work, most notably as the clock Cogsworth in Disney’s 1991 animated classic “Beauty and the Beast.”