Discussion:
David Ogden Stiers, 75
(too old to reply)
Diner
2018-03-03 23:59:45 UTC
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http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2018/03/david_ogden_stiers_mash_actor_dies.html
That Derek
2018-03-04 01:11:23 UTC
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Goodbye. Farewell. Amen.
Bermuda999
2018-03-05 12:28:25 UTC
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Post by That Derek
Goodbye. Farewell. Amen.
"I do one thing. I do it well. And then I move on."
Alfalfa Bill
2018-03-04 01:13:41 UTC
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Post by Diner
http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2018/03/david_ogden_stiers_mash_actor_dies.html
That game of life is hard to play
I'm gonna lose it anyway


That Derek
2018-03-04 01:32:41 UTC
Permalink
A brave man once requested me.
To answer questions that are key.
"Is it to be or not to be?"
And I replied, "Oh, why ask me?"
c***@aol.com
2018-03-04 02:24:50 UTC
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Born in Peoria, IL!
d***@gmail.com
2018-03-04 12:40:27 UTC
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Gay?
Guilty Bastard
2018-03-04 16:30:14 UTC
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Gay?
you have to ask?
Travoltron
2018-03-04 21:20:56 UTC
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Post by Guilty Bastard
Gay?
you have to ask?
He always denied it, FWIW. The rumor was started in 2009 by a sketchy,
anonymous gay blogger...

http://web.archive.org/web/20090604020126/http://www.gossip-boy.com/DOS.html

...and got picked up by some mainstream media outlets that were too lazy
to check their facts.
c***@aol.com
2018-03-04 21:27:06 UTC
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They should all be dead.
l***@yahoo.com
2018-03-04 21:42:04 UTC
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Post by Travoltron
He always denied it, FWIW. The rumor was started in 2009 by a sketchy,
anonymous gay blogger...
What do you mean, "always"? I searched on "gay" and "denied" and it seems he didn't deny it AFTER 2009.

Apparently, he feared coming out would hurt his career.

Btw, in Leigh W. Rutledge's 1980s book "Unnatural Quotations," on page 85, the film critic Vito Russo said:

"I don't think most actors want to come out of the closet. I have a personal theory that it's not because they think it's going to hurt their career; I think it's because they really are ashamed of who they are. Nine times out of ten, if a person is a well-loved figure, or a good actor, they can get away with it. Let's see, who could you be and not get away with it? Someone with absolutely no talent and only looks...Tom Selleck. Tom Selleck's career would be ruined because his career is based on his heterosexuality."



Lenona.
Travoltron
2018-03-05 01:57:47 UTC
Permalink
Post by l***@yahoo.com
he didn't deny it AFTER 2009.
He never came out in the first place. A wannabe gossip blogger made that up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:David_Ogden_Stiers/Archives/2013#Gay.3F
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:David_Ogden_Stiers

The guys at Wikipedia have thoroughly researched this for years. That
interview never happened.

He may or may not have been gay, but he never "came out".
martinjsxx
2018-03-05 19:12:19 UTC
Permalink
The NY Times obituary references the interview where he came out.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/04/obituaries/david-ogden-stiers-mash-dies.html
A Friend
2018-03-04 22:44:21 UTC
Permalink
Post by Travoltron
Post by Guilty Bastard
Gay?
you have to ask?
He always denied it, FWIW. The rumor was started in 2009 by a sketchy,
anonymous gay blogger...
http://web.archive.org/web/20090604020126/http://www.gossip-boy.com/DOS.html
...and got picked up by some mainstream media outlets that were too lazy
to check their facts.
I don't know what you're talking about, and neither do you. Stiers
came out in 2009.


http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/Movies/story?id=7518323&page=1

'M*A*S*H' Star David Ogden Stiers Reveals He's Gay

By SHEILA MARIKAR
May 6, 2009

In the twilight of his career, "M*A*S*H" actor David Ogden Stiers has
finally come out, saying he's no longer afraid to be gay.

In a recent interview, the Emmy-nominated actor, 66, told the Oklahoma
City blog gossip-boy.com, "I am [gay]. Very proud to be so."

Ogden Stiers joined the cast of "M*A*S*H" in 1977 as the arrogant but
charming aristocrat Charles Emerson Winchester III. In addition to
starring in the sitcom, he voiced the characters of a number of Disney
movies, including Cogsworth in "Beauty and the Beast" and the
Archdeacon in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame."

The actor said he kept his homosexuality under wraps for years because
he feared coming out would hurt his career. But being that he has not
experienced any anti-gay discrimination in the movie industry recently,
Ogden Stiers is reconsidering what exactly made him stay in the closet
for so long.

"I haven't witnessed such things occurring in a long, long time," he
said about anti-gay discrimination, adding that his personal concerns
may have clouded his views. "I should say in regards to this that many
of my fears were in modern times self-invented. I've been working
internally on whether they were the problem, or if I just continued
using them as an excuse."

He said he thought staying quiet about his sexuality would keep his
income secure.

"I enjoy working, and even though many have this idealistic belief that
the entertainment industry and studios like Walt Disney are gay
friendly," they weren't always, he said. "For the most part they are,
but that doesn't mean for them that business does not come first. It's
a matter of economics. ... A lot of my income has been derived from
voicing Disney and family programming."

Ogden Stiers also added that the flamboyant nature of some of his
animated roles contributed to his decision to hide his sexuality.

"Cogsworth, the character I did on 'Beauty and the Beast,' could be a
bit flamboyant onscreen, because basically, he is a cartoon," he said.
"But they didn't want Cogsworth to become Disney's gay character,
because it got around a gay man was playing him."

Disney is the parent company of ABC News. Asked to respond to Ogden
Stiers' comments, a Disney Studio spokesperson said, "Casting decisions
are made solely on the basis of who is the best actor or actress for
any given role."

What's Odgen Stiers' impetus for coming out now? He's hoping to settle
down with someone and make their romance public.

"I wish to spend my life's twilight being just who I am," he said. "I
could claim noble reasons as coming out in order to move gay rights
forward, but I must admit it is for far more selfish reasons. Now is
the time I wish to find someone, and I do not desire to force any
potential partner to live a life of extreme discretion with me."

Ogden Stiers Latest Actor to Come Out Late in Life

Ogden Stiers is the latest in a long line of actors to come out late in
their careers, though not all of them have been quite as outspoken.

"Frasier" star David Hyde Pierce, 50, was prodded out of the closet in
2007 after an Associated Press article mentioned his partner, Brian
Hargrove, and the blog AfterElton.com followed up with Pierce to
confirm that he was in fact gay. The actor had previously declined to
make any mention about his personal life.

"Lord of the Rings" and "X-Men" star Sir Ian McKellen, 69, revealed he
was gay on British radio in 1988 and later said he wished he had come
out sooner. He advised others in Hollywood to do the same.

"By the time I came out, I was in my late 40s, and I was fed up with
worrying about what other people thought, and confident enough in my
career to suspect that it wasn't going to make any difference at all. I
was absolutely wrong," he told WENN in 2005. "I became a better actor,
and my film career took off in a way that I couldn't have expected. You
can't lie about something so central to yourself without harming
yourself."

"Doogie Howser, M.D." and "How I Met Your Mother" star Neil Patrick
Harris, 35, also made a big splash when he came out of the closet.

"I am happy to dispel any rumors or misconceptions and am quite proud
to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest
and feel most fortunate to be working with wonderful people in the
business I love," he told People magazine in 2006.
David Carson
2018-03-05 00:54:47 UTC
Permalink
Post by A Friend
By SHEILA MARIKAR
May 6, 2009
The actor said he kept his homosexuality under wraps for years because
he feared coming out would hurt his career. But being that he has not
experienced any anti-gay discrimination in the movie industry recently,
Ogden Stiers is reconsidering what exactly made him stay in the closet
for so long.
"I haven't witnessed such things occurring in a long, long time," he
said about anti-gay discrimination, adding that his personal concerns
may have clouded his views. "I should say in regards to this that many
of my fears were in modern times self-invented. I've been working
internally on whether they were the problem, or if I just continued
using them as an excuse."
So we've gone from gay people being disciminated against to gay people not
being discriminated against, but dammit, they still must tell us that they
are gay and justify why they did not tell us years ago. Yay, progress. God
forbid we just not make it our business what people do with their
genitals.

David Carson
Alfalfa Bill
2018-03-05 01:40:27 UTC
Permalink
Post by David Carson
Post by A Friend
By SHEILA MARIKAR
May 6, 2009
The actor said he kept his homosexuality under wraps for years because
he feared coming out would hurt his career. But being that he has not
experienced any anti-gay discrimination in the movie industry recently,
Ogden Stiers is reconsidering what exactly made him stay in the closet
for so long.
"I haven't witnessed such things occurring in a long, long time," he
said about anti-gay discrimination, adding that his personal concerns
may have clouded his views. "I should say in regards to this that many
of my fears were in modern times self-invented. I've been working
internally on whether they were the problem, or if I just continued
using them as an excuse."
So we've gone from gay people being disciminated against to gay people not
being discriminated against, but dammit, they still must tell us that they
are gay and justify why they did not tell us years ago. Yay, progress. God
forbid we just not make it our business what people do with their
genitals.
David Carson
So cue the theme from MASH, a song about a man diagnosed as a latent homosexual who would rather kill himself than become gay:


Through early morning fog I see
Visions of the things to be
The pains which are withheld from me
I realize and I see

That suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please
Terry del Fuego
2018-03-05 20:50:15 UTC
Permalink
God forbid we just not make it our business what people do with their
genitals.
Total agreement. There are a lot of things I really enjoy about
retirement. Fairly high on the list is not having to attempt to
accomplish something constructive while being subjected to a
screamversation about pregnancy.

Travoltron
2018-03-05 01:46:38 UTC
Permalink
Post by A Friend
I don't know what you're talking about, and neither do you. Stiers
came out in 2009.
I know exactly what I'm talking about, and you're full of shit.
ABC News article uses that nobody's blog as its source. And so do all
the other "he's gay" articles.

Even Wikipedia will not allow that blog as a source.
David Carson
2018-03-04 20:42:54 UTC
Permalink
Post by Diner
http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2018/03/david_ogden_stiers_mash_actor_dies.html
Out of the eleven principal cast members of "M*A*S*H," there are now more
dead than living.

Dead: McClean Stevensen, Larry Linville, Harry Morgan, Wayne Rogers,
William Christopher, David Ogden Stiers

Living: Jamie Farr, Alan Alda, Loretta Swit, Make Farrell, Gary Burghoff

The count ties if you add G. W. Bailey (alive), who was in the opening
credits towrds the end of the series, but tips back in favor of the dead
if you add recurring guest-star Allan Arbus (dead).

I don't include usually-mute characters like Nurse Kelleye (Kelleye
Nakahara, alive) and Igor (Jeff Maxwell, alive).

http://www.doadb.com/actors.htm?list=mash

David Carson
--
Dead or Alive Data Base
http://www.doadb.com
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