Joining the MASH cast in 1977, David Ogden Stiers had big shoes to fill, replacing outgoing talent Larry Linville who played Frank Burns. His character of Charles Emerson Winchester III was an arrogant, obnoxious elitist and brilliant surgeon that lasted until the show’s final, 12th season, and he earned two Emmy nominations in the process. TMZ is reporting, via his agent, that he passed away peacefully in his home after succumbing to bladder cancer at age 75.
Like MASH itself, the Winchester character was capable of having moments of levity expertly interspersed with heavy seriousness. At the end of the day, the show was about life and death, and Stiers played Winchester with a humanity that made him a fan-favorite to this day.
Stiers also narrated Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and won a Grammy for his work in the Best Recording for Children category. Later in his career, he voiced Dr. Jumba Jookiba in Lilo & Stitch and lent his voice to numerous video games and cartoons over the years. As Variety points out, his first work was voicing an announcer in George Lucas’ THX-1138. He was also a voice in Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away and was a regular on Adult Swim.
