Someone has, in the terrible nature of the internet, put up a poll on IMDb called “Do You Remember When They Had Hair?” And, okay, no. No, I don’t. Some of my earliest pop culture memories are of the later days of M*A*S*H, a show I loved then as now, a show he was great on as Major Charles Emerson Winchester III. He’s been part of my life as long as I’ve been aware of pop culture, given he joined the cast in 1977, the year after I was born. And then, he kept slipping into things I loved and being quiet and good, albeit often in a pompous way. And he went to high school for a year with Roger Ebert, so there’s that as well.

Because he wasn’t British. He wasn’t even from Boston. He was born in Peoria. He lived in Urbana for a while, then Eugene. Then, he moved to San Francisco and began acting. Then Julliard. Then Broadway, and some TV—apparently, he was on the Charlie’s Angels pilot, if you can believe it. And in 1977, he became Charles. And while he did amazing amounts of stuff other than Charles—if you can believe it, he’s the announcer in THX-1138—that’s how we’re all going to remember him, at least a little, in between Cogsworth and Jumba and so forth.

Honestly, I think he’d be okay with that. Charles was a great character. He took over as antagonist for Larry Linville, who left the show because there was nowhere Frank Burns could go. Charles was built from the outset to be interesting and well-developed. For one thing, he was a talented surgeon. Wrong for the situation he was in. He wasn’t equipped to be a meatball surgeon. But my Gods, a great character. The episode where Charles finds the music for the pianist who has lost use of his hand? The one where he gives chocolate to the orphanage? Oh, any fan of the later years of the series can list at least a dozen great Charles moments.

So okay, beyond Charles. He came up with the “flowers, chocolates, promises you don’t intend to keep” line in Beauty and the Beast. He was no Hamilton Burger, I grant you, but he was a fine foil to Perry Mason in those ’80s made-for-TV movies. And he was Jumba, who is just so delightful, a word I keep wanting to use. And he was one of the best guest stars on Star Trek: The Next Generation. And it turns out he was an accomplished musician and a conductor. The truly sad thing is that he wasn’t quite on the list, though I think I considered him a time or two on days when no one on the list felt right, and I should’ve added him to the list at the time.

He came out as gay less than ten years ago, and apparently part of the reason he stayed in the closet as long as he did was that he didn’t think he could get work if he didn’t. Even with Disney, which he knew would disappoint a lot of people. But he knew that, as a minor actor, it would be easier for them to just pretend they couldn’t find work for him. But at the same time, he didn’t feel he could ask someone to share their life with him in secret—the way, in fact, that Raymond Burr had, and that is a rabbit hole I’m going to go down one of these days. But today? Let’s remember Charles instead.

Help me afford seasons of M*A*S*H on DVD; consider supporting my Patreon!