David Ogden Stiers is an American actor, director, vocal actor, and musician, noted for his roles in Disney movies, as well as his performances in the television series M*A*S*H as Major Charles Emerson Winchester III and the science fiction drama The Dead Zone as Reverend Gene Purdy. He is also known for the role of District Attorney Michael Reston in the Perry Mason TV movies. Stiers was born in Peoria, Illinois, the son of Margaret Elizabeth and Kenneth Truman Stiers. He attended Urbana High School, at the same time as film critic Roger Ebert. He later relocated to Eugene, Oregon, where... he graduated from North Eugene High School and briefly attended the University of Oregon. He later ventured to San Francisco, where he performed with the California Shakespeare Theater, San Francisco Actors Workshop, and the improv group The Committee, whose members included Rob Reiner and Howard Hesseman. Soon after, Stiers studied at the Juilliard School as a member of the drama division's first class , which also included Patti LuPone and Kevin Kline.
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