David Ogden Stiers

The Replacement No One Expected

David Ogden Stiers landed on the set of M*A*S*H in 1977 to fill the gap left by Larry Linville. It looked like career suicide, since the departing character was the butt of the series' jokes. But Stiers brought a Boston hauteur that changed the energy of the field hospital.

The bet on elegance paid off.

Before that success, he trained at the prestigious Juilliard School. There he studied with John Houseman and honed his craft in a touring theater company that traveled across the United States. That technical foundation allowed him to move between television comedy and drama without missing a beat.

In 1977, audiences discovered that Major Winchester was a far more complex antagonist than his predecessor. He wasn't a cartoon villain. He was an aristocrat stuck in the mud of Korea who would rather listen to Mozart than put up with Pierce's jokes. That role earned him two Emmy Award nominations in 1981 and 1982.

Theater was his true foundation.

The Voice That Was Worth Millions

In the nineties, his career took a different turn thanks to his voice. In 1991, he voiced the clock Din-Don in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. That contract changed his bank account and tied him to the animation studio for years.

He returned to the studio in 1995 to voice Governor Ratcliffe in Pocahontas. His ability to balance arrogance and tenderness made him a fixture in voice-over booths. And he did it with absolute professional seriousness, far from being just a celebrity guest reading a script.

Woody Allen worked with him on three films in a row during that same period. In 1991, he shot Shadows and Fog, and in 1995 he took part in Mighty Aphrodite. His on-screen presence always brought an intellectual weight that casting directors actively sought out.

Music and Absolute Discretion

Off set, his obsession was classical music. He went on to conduct more than 70 symphony orchestras in the United States and Canada. For him, the baton was as important as the script. It wasn't the hobby of a wealthy actor, but a calling that took up most of his free time.

In 2009, he decided to speak publicly about his homosexuality after years of silence. He did so at age 66, fearing his career would suffer in an industry that was far more closed off back then. That gesture brought him personal relief at a stage when he was already very selective about his projects.

The silence ended out of a need for honesty.

He spent his final years in the small town of Newport, Oregon. There he kept working on voice dubbing for series such as Regular Show until 2015. He had no interest in the spotlight of Los Angeles or the red carpets of major festivals.

David Ogden Stiers died on March 3, 2018 at his beach house. He was 75 years old and suffering from bladder cancer that worsened in his final weeks. His classical music collection numbered in the thousands of recordings and was donated in full to local institutions after his death.