Major Winchester(David Ogden Steirs) Died

David Ogden Stiers, stuffy Major Winchester in 'M*A*S*H,' dies at 75
Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY Published 11:51 p.m. ET March 3, 2018 | Updated 12:34 a.m. ET March 4, 2018
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David Ogden Stiers, best known as the arrogant surgeon Major 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 Saturday of bladder cancer at his home. Stubbs paid tribute to the true heart of the man best known for his snooty portrayal of Major Winchester.

"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."

Stiers was born in Peoria, Ill., in 1942 and moved to Eugene, Ore. 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.
William Christopher (from left), David Ogden Stiers,
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William Christopher (from left), David Ogden Stiers, Alan Alda, Harry Morgan, Loretta Swit, Mike Farrell and Jamie Farr in the 1970s television comedy 'M*A*S*H.' (Photo: 20th Century Fox)

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's animated classic Beauty and the Beast. Stiers was encouraged to improvise his lines.

The most famous: When the Beast wonders what he should say to win his beloved Belle over, Cogsworth suggests, "Flowers, chocolates, promises you don't intend to keep."

Stiers would voice further animated role as Governor Ratcliffe in Pocahontas, Archdeacon in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Dr. Jumba Jookiba in Lilo & Stitch.

In a 2009 interview, Stiers revealed he was gay, saying he had kept his sexuality under wraps for fears of hurting his career.

The actor's regional paper, The Oregonian, reports that Stiers was a gifted musician. He was the resident conductor of the Newport Symphony and had guest conducted for more than 70 orchestras throughout the world.

Newport would be a great place to retire to... as long as you don't waste too much time or money playing video poker in the Rogue pub after drinking way too much of their beer :gulp:

Rest in peace, Major Winchester.

Never liked his character in MASH especially compared to Frank Burns but that wasn't his fault - MASH jumped the shark.

Well, by the time Stiers joined the cast, MASH had already morphed into the Alan Alda Morality Show.

I did enjoy Stiers as the dad in Better Off Dead. He also turned in a decent performance in a made for tv movie based on the book The Final Days, where Stiers played Alexander Haig. Can't recall having seen anything else he did outside of that stuff.

Weird, I preferred Charles to frank but think it was more to do with the frank character becoming this whiny bitch and he was starting to spoil the show.

What spoiled the show was the actress playing Hotlips threatening to leave unless they made her nice.
What an idiothole.

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Originally Posted by vandeleur

Weird, I preferred Charles to frank but think it was more to do with the frank character becoming this whiny bitch and he was starting to spoil the show.

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I'm mixed. The early shows were clearly edgier and better. But is some ways Charles character was more refined and while not the villain Frank was, he could stand up to Hawkeye a bit more on equal terms as a foil...

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Originally Posted by Terry

Well, by the time Stiers joined the cast, MASH had already morphed into the Alan Alda Morality Show.

I did enjoy Stiers as the dad in Better Off Dead. He also turned in a decent performance in a made for tv movie based on the book The Final Days, where Stiers played Alexander Haig. Can't recall having seen anything else he did outside of that stuff.

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I think most of the cast would agree that Alan Alda took over the show. His character wasn't supposed to take over and he was to be equal to Trapper John. I think some find Trapper a bit more unlikable due to his infidelity and that he's played as a little bit of a dick, and he left over a contract dispute with maybe some chagrin at Alda. But that's part of what made early MASH so good...

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Originally Posted by Seshmeister

Never liked his character in MASH especially compared to Frank Burns but that wasn't his fault - MASH jumped the shark.

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Never liked that fucking show. It was noting more than a wet liberal revisionist history on how to social reform war while completely ignoring American imperialism. For its long run, the formula must have worked with advertisers until Reagan came into power and made war sexy again. Fuck that show and all who acted in it.

Main problem with keeping the show going was that it literally lasted 3 times longer than the actual Korean war did. If somebody made a MASH type of show today, based on the PNAC wars, they would still have fresh source material (unfortunately)

Did the US version have canned laughter?

It never did here when it was first aired but the last time I saw it there was and it completely ruined it for me.

I do remember episodes having canned laughter, and a rather unenthusiastic laugh track at that, where the laughs would start a moment before the punch line was reached.

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Originally Posted by Nickdfresh

I think most of the cast would agree that Alan Alda took over the show. His character wasn't supposed to take over and he was to be equal to Trapper John. I think some find Trapper a bit more unlikable due to his infidelity and that he's played as a little bit of a dick, and he left over a contract dispute with maybe some chagrin at Alda. But that's part of what made early MASH so good...

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Early MASH was good, but I'd sooner see the movie these days and leave it at that, mostly because the show was so mild in comparison to the movie.

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Originally Posted by FORD

Main problem with keeping the show going was that it literally lasted 3 times longer than the actual Korean war did. If somebody made a MASH type of show today, based on the PNAC wars, they would still have fresh source material (unfortunately)

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Well, plus you had Trapper leaving, then Henry, then Frank, then Radar.

By the time the last couple seasons rolled around, Klinger wasn't even in drag anymore. Truth be told, that show hung around a few seasons too long in terms of effectiveness for me.

Just like Happy Days in that regard.... you lose enough of the principal cast members and it's not the same show anymore. Though the real "jump the shark" moment on Happy Days wasn't literally when Fonzie jumped the shark, it was when he - the high school dropout - became a high school teacher!

I didn't watch that many later MASH episodes, a total of 251 were made which is nuts.

Looking at IMDB MASH for me must have been watching 1970s reruns in the 1980s. I didn't have a clue that there were more than twice as many Hunnicutt appearances as Trapper one or that Winchester actually had 10 more than Frank Burns.

I think I bailed soon after Winchester appeared.