Actor, Central IL Native David Ogden Stiers Dead At 75
Actor David Ogden Stiers (Right) appears with director Frank Darabont and actor Jim Carry in 2001, at the premiere of their movie "The Majestic" in Los Angeles. Stiers, a central Illinois native, died Saturday at age 75, after a battle with cancer. Crhis Pizello/AP
Actor and central Illinois native David Ogden Stiers has died at age 75, according to multiple news reports.
Stiers’ agent, Mitchell K. Stubbs, announced on his Twitter account that Stiers died Saturday morning at his Newport, Oregon home, “after a courageous battle with bladder cancer”.
According to various reports, Stiers was born in Peoria in 1942. A 2016 article in the Peoria Journal-Star states that as a child, Stiers lived in the Peoria suburbs of Peoria Heights and Chillicothe. His family then moved to Urbana, where Stiers attended Urbana High School, and was a classmate of future film critic Roger Ebert. While still a teen-ager, Stiers moved with his family to Eugene, Oregon.
Stiers is remembered for playing the pompous but essentially decent Army surgeon, Major Charles Emerson Winchester III in the TV version of M*A*S*H, from 1977 to 1983. Stiers received two Emmy nominations for his portrayal of Winchester, who replaced that of Major Frank Burns (played by Larry Linville) on the series. Stiers also had recurring roles as the Rev. Gene Purdy in The Dead Zone. Oberoth in Stargate Atlantis and as Dis. Atty Michael Reston in the Perry Mason TV movies.
As a voice actor, Stiers was heard in eight Disney animated films, including Beauty and the Beast (as the enchanted clock, Cogsworth), Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Stiers also provided narration for several documentaries for public television, including several episodes of The American Experience and for The Lord is Not on Trial Here Today, Jay Rosenstein’s film about the legal battle fought by Champaign resident Vashti McCollum against religion classes taught in the Champaign public schools.
In addition to an extensive stage career, Stiers’ on-camera movie appearances include roles in several Woody Allen films, including Shadows and Fog, Mighty Aphrodite and Everybody Says I Love You. He played Franklin Roosevelt, in J. Edgar Hoover, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio (he also played FDR on television, in the TV movie Day One). His last movie roles were in 2017’s Neil Stryker and the Tyrant of Time, a science fiction spoof, and The Joneses Unplugged, a Christmas-themed romantic comedy for the Hallmark Channel.
Stiers was also a conductor, guest-conducting orchestras around the world. He was the associate conductor for the Newport (Oregon) Symphony Orchestra and Oregon’s Ernest Bloch Music Festival.
(This article was revised on 3/4/18 to provide more details about Stiers; childhood and movie roles -- JM)