GOSSIP BOY EXCLUSIVE! TELEVISION ICON
DAVID OGDEN STIERS OFFICIALLY COMES OUT
March 11, 2009
By Wayne Fuller
DAVID OGDEN STIERS
BACKSTORY: DAVID
Few would believe that the stodgy appearing actor David Ogden Stiers (DOS to many friends) is a flower child at heart. From his work and general appearance most would describe him as uptight, humorless, conservative, religious, cold, and judgmental.
Now replace those adjectives with their opposite and you have the real DOS – fun loving, witty, liberal, atheistic, warm and accepting.
Abandoning a harsh
Eventually he became intimate with an Academy-award winning director, who saw Stiers’ budding talent and after a few strings were pulled the Midwesterner found himself on another coast; this time in
For his role as Major Charles Emerson Winchester THE III, a pompous Bostonian aristocratic surgeon, Stiers obtained two best supporting actor Emmy nominations in one of television’s most critically acclaimed and honored shows. He continued with M*A*S*H for seven seasons and brought new dimensions to his character, who had been written strictly as a foil for Alan Alda’s Hawkeye, but grew into a beloved television icon himself.
In addition to his acting DOS is a professional conductor and magician. He has been a guest conductor for over 75 orchestras nationwide; often donating his services for a charitable event. If you see him on stage with longtime friend Patty Duke doing the play Love Letters or Together Again for the First Time it will be for the benefit of a local theater needing operational funds or just because they can’t wait to work together again.
Gal pal Patty is most famous for her TV stint playing identical cousins in The Patty Duke Show of the 1960s and her Oscar-winning role as Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker. Duke, the mother of actor Sean Astin, now does a lot of stage work after a prolonged battle with bipolar disorder. In 2002 she did the part of Aunt Eller in a Broadway revival of
Patty Duke, who received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, with DOS and her son Sean Astin.
The esteemed actor, who is known as much for his voice as his face, has never been married, which has led many in Hollywood to assume he is gay. Stiers is now ready to lay those rumors to rest.
Due to professional fears, mostly relating to a substantial body of voice work for a less-gay-friendly-environment-than-you-thought Walt Disney and various children’s programs, DOS has spent his entire life residing in the closet. He’s never been to a gay bar, participated in a Pride event, or any thing that would raise questions about his sexuality. That’s about to change.
GB: First thing David we need to let the readers know why you chose Gossip Boy to come out. DOS: Gossip Boy? I thought you were with the Advocate! GB: Now. DOS: Well, you certainly are aware of my lengthy friendship with your associate James. We’ve had a long time conversation over my sexuality and how I’ve kept it close to my chest. There have been questions over the years and I now feel a tad more comfortable in discussing my personal life. GB: You are gay. Right, David? DOS: Yes, I am. Very proud to be so. GB: You are over 66 years old, so why have you waited so long to confirm what many in DOS: There are two reasons really. One is that I enjoy working and even though many have this idealistic belief that the entertainment industry and studios like Walt Disney are gay friendly. 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. Most of my more notable work in the last two decades has been as a voice actor. Certainly, I’ve done television appearances, be they recurring or guest roles, and numerous motion picture and documentary stints, but a lot of my income has been derived from voicing Disney and family programming. What they might allow in a more known actor, they prefer not having to deal with in minor players. GB: Could you name some of the studios and execs who made you fear coming out? DOS: I won’t. There is no animosity between us and I don’t wish to create any. Simply, they were protecting their business interests. 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 long after the call for conservative private lives passed. In that, I mean from the late 1980’s until about seven or eight years ago, you would find certain individuals coming up to you, me, and advocating the position that since we were doing family fare that it would be best were the actors to maintain a certain palatability to parents. These parties likely had heard rumors or harbored suspicions about me and wanted to make sure no embarrassing incidents were forthcoming. Cogsworth, the character I did on Beauty and the Beast could be a bit flamboyant on screen, because basically he is a cartoon, but they didn’t want Cogsworth to become Disney’s gay character, because it got around a gay man was playing him. I haven’t witnessed such things occurring in a long, long time. GB: Is this why you’re now willing to come out? DOS: In part. Likely, the biggest part. Yet I wish to spend my life’s twilight being just who I am. 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. GB: Do you feel that even with things better for gays that you could lose work for coming out? There’s been a recent controversy about Australian Olympian Matthew Mitcham not getting product endorsement spots, because of the gay perception. Might this happen to you? DOS: Admittedly, I do have those nagging worries, but when I set back with a glass of rich cuvée and reason with my fears, I conclude that the work I do now no longer comes attached to once popular discriminations. Too, I don’t do commercials as a habit, so that concern is never prominent in my decision making. GB: So you’re looking for a potential partner. Any one in mind or do you have a general description? DOS: Someone both mature and youthful. Who has a good sense of who they are and where they are heading. They need to appreciate the finer things in life, as over the years I’ve developed certain tastes. The more lusty side of me seeks a man with developed arms, as that has always appealed to me. GB: While you were in the closet, you avoided most things associated with a wilder gay lifestyle. Any plans to change that? DOS: I have a very fulfilling and established life and rarely do I find time to add something new to the mix. This doesn’t mean that I am against gay-related activities, but that I am of an age where everything fits comfortably, be it intimate conversations, wine tasting with my many dear friends, driving adventures into the beautiful
FROM WIKI
Other television work
Following the completion of M*A*S*H, Stiers expanded his work on television, with regular guest appearances in North and South; Star Trek: The Next Generation; Murder, She Wrote; Touched By An Angel; and Frasier. He also appeared in two unsuccessful television projects, Love & Money and Justice League of America (as the Martian Manhunter). In 2002, Stiers started a recurring role as the Reverend Purdy on the successful USA Network show The Dead Zone, with Anthony Michael Hall. In 2006, he was cast as the recurring character Oberoth in Stargate Atlantis. Stiers also appeared in several Perry Mason made-for-TV movies in the 1980s as District Attorney Michael Reston.
With a vast television résumé, Stiers expanded into film as well. His early films included Jack Nicholson’s Drive, He Said and the George Burns comedy Oh, God! He followed up with roles in Better Off Dead, The Accidental Tourist, Iron Will, Doc Hollywood, and Krippendorf's Tribe. During the 1990s, Stiers joined Woody Allen’s ensemble casts in Shadows and Fog, Mighty Aphrodite, Everyone Says I Love You, and The Curse of the Jade Scorpion. His most recent film appearance was in the 2001 Frank Capra-esque film The Majestic, with Jim Carrey.
With a distinct authoritative voice, Stiers has provided voice work for dozens of film and television projects. His first work was on George Lucas’ critically acclaimed THX 1138. Stiers has voiced PBS documentary films such as Ric Burns’ project New York: A Documentary Film and the television series The American Experience,[6] directed by Ric Burns. Furthermore, he has collaborated with Disney on eight animated features, such as Beauty and the Beast (as Cogsworth), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (as the Archdeacon and the lead singer for the song 'The Bells of Notre Dame') Pocahontas (as Governor Ratcliffe and Wiggins), Lilo and Stitch (as Jumba Jookiba), and Spirited Away. He also voiced Gryzlikoff in Darkwing Duck. He also voiced the king and prime minister in a short film, The Cat That Looked At The King, in 2004. In recent years, Stiers has lent his voice to several video games, including Icewind Dale, Kingdom Hearts II, Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, and Myst V: End of Ages. He recently lent his voice in Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman as The Penguin and the Blue Yonder Films/Weinstein film Hoodwinked!as Nicky Flippers.
