American actor and conductor David Ogden Stiers was BOTD in 1942. Born in Peoria, Illinois, he grew up in Oregon. After briefly attending the University of Oregon, he moved to San Francisco to pursue an acting career becoming well-known for his performances of Shakespearean comedy. He moved to New York City in 1968 to join the first drama class at the Juilliard School. After graduation, he co-formed the City Center Acting Company, and appeared in a series of Broadway productions, notably the 1974 premiere of Stephen Schwartz‘s musical The Magic Show. He became more widely known in the 1970s, with appearances in TV sitcoms The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Kojak, Rhoda andCharlie’s Angels. In 1977, he joined the cast of the Korean War-set sitcom M*A*S*H, playing pompous Army surgeon Charles Emerson Winchester III. The role earned him two Emmy nominations, and he remained with the show until its finale in 1983. Post-M*A*S*H, he had a regular role in TV sitcom Perry Mason alongside fellow closet case Raymond Burr, and appearances in Murder, She Wrote, Matlock, Frasier and Dr Quinn Medicine Woman. Admired for his mellifluous voice and crisp diction, he had a successful later-life career as a voice actor, appearing in the animated films Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, Lilo & Stitch and the English-language version of Spirited Away. A longtime resident of Newport, Oregon, he had a long association as a patron and guest conductor of the Newport Symphony, and guest-conducted in other orchestras in the United States and Canada. In 2009, aged 67, he finally came out as gay, citing fears over damage to his career as his reason for staying in the closet, and expressing his wish to find a romantic partner. He died in 2018, aged 75, apparently still single.