Another rough day in which you see a name you haven’t seen in a while show up on the side of the headlines of FaceBook and you know it can’t be good. Sadly, David passed away Saturday from bladder cancer.
Before David landed his career-defining role as the arrogant-yet-competent Major Winchester on M*A*S*H, he had been on a couple other CBS SitComs as recurring characters such as Doc, Rhoda, Phyllis and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The last show as the TV Station’s GM is where I think he refined the Winchester personality. Meanwhile, he did get a couple bit parts in movies I love from the Seventies: The Cheap Detective and Oh God! When the TV version of the Korean War finally ended in 1983, I was with most people figuring his pompous persona had left him typecast. I was glad to be wrong because his portrayal as the dad (Al) in Better Off Dead demonstrated he could do comedy beyond Alan Alda’s melancholy extravaganza. David got many laughs in this essential Eighties coming-of-age gagfest by being clueless with contemporary slang, having an ongoing feud with the paperboy and let’s face it, he is the only sane person in the Meyer family.
Star Trek fans love him for his only appearance in the franchise as the alien scientist Timcin. The episode’s premise involving a culture with institutionalized euthanasia and falling in love with the often annoying Lwaxana Troi became memorable thanks to his acting. To me, it’s one of NG‘s best 20 due to the dilemma Timcin had, continue his research to save his homeworld’s sun or obey his homeworld’s law with the hope another generation will succeed where he had failed. Incidentally, “Half a Life” was Michelle Forbes’ debut and I think their argument landed her the role of Ensign Ro.
Moving along, David lives on with many younger people in cartoons. For Disney he was Coggsworth in Beauty and the Beast, Governor Ratcliffe in Pocahontas, the Archdeacon in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Harcout in Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Dr. Jumba in Lilo & Stitch. He was King Solver, ruler of Ape City for the best animated version of The Justice League. My absolute personal favorite character near the end of his life was the Park’s owner and Pop’s dad, the cranky Mr. Maellard in Regular Show. Casting him along with Mark Hamil was some of the cartoon’s casting coups.
While I research David, I learned a couple things about him. Coming out as gay in 2009, feh. It’s 2018 and thankfully, Western Civilization is maturing about it (myself included after my mindset in the Eighties) so I’m happy he got to remove that personal burden. The other was Peoria, IL being his birthplace. Puts him in the relatively good company of Richard Pryor and Sam Kinnison. Lastly, he went to high school with Roger Ebert. This means David and his family lived in Urbana, IL before they moved to Eugene, OR where he graduated from.
Thank you for everything David. To me, you’ll forever be Al Meyer, the frustrated patriarch whose garage door is threatened by the “two dollars” kid.