David Ogden Stiers, who rose to fame on the hit television show MASH, has passed away at the age of 75, according to a report from Variety.
His agent, Mitchell K. Stubbs, broke the news late Tuesday evening via his Twitter account. The talented actor passed after a "courageous battle" with bladder cancer.
David rose to fame on the hit series MASH, where he played Maj. Charles Winchester from 1977-1983. That role earned him two Emmy nominations, and then a third for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Special for the program The First Olympics: Athens 1896. He found success in animated work as well, lending his voice to the smash Disney film Beauty And The Beast where he played the role of Cogsworth.
He also had an illustrious career on Broadway, dating all the way back to 1973 with his first role in The Three Sisters all the way to 2009 in Irving Berlin's White Christmas.
He came out publicly as gay in a 2009 interview. “I am [gay],” he said. “Very proud to be so.” He did it later on in his life as he feared it would have hurt his career with Disney and other family films.
Some of us remember his appearance on an episode of Frasier that aired on May 6, 2003. He played Leland Barton.
Leland Barton, Hester Crane's old research assistant, visits Seattle. He is so alike in personality to Frasier and Niles that Martin starts to wonder who is the boys' real father. – IMDb
Here are two clips from the show. One where Daphne is trying to put two and two together, while the second clip is where Leland says the math won't work. We wonder how that scene felt to do in 2003, 6 years before publicly coming out. Most of Hollywood probably already knew, but we as a public did not.
May he rest in peace.