Who is Charles Winchester in M*A*S*H?

Show

M*A*S*H

Played by

David Ogden Stiers

First episode

“Fade Out, Fade In”Season 6, Episode 1, aired September 20, 1977

Role

Main cast

Network

CBS

Occupation

Surgeon, 4077th MASH

Show run

1972 to 1983

Also known as

Charles Emerson Winchester III, Major Winchester, Winchester, Charles Emerson Winchester

Major Charles Emerson Winchester III is a blue-blooded Boston surgeon who considers the 4077th far beneath him. Played by David Ogden Stiers from season six on, he is everything Frank Burns was not: skilled, cultured, and able to fire back.

On M*A*S*H, Charles Winchester's story runs through Hawkeye Pierce (Bunkmate), B.J. Hunnicutt (Bunkmate), Sherman Potter (Commanding Officer), Margaret Houlihan (Friend), and Frank Burns (Predecessor).

Who is Charles Winchester?

Charles comes from a wealthy Boston Brahmin family, graduated from Harvard and Harvard Medical School, and was on track to run cardiothoracic surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital when the Army drafted him. He was comfortably posted in Tokyo until he beat his commanding officer at cribbage, and the colonel shipped him to the 4077th as payback.

He arrives in the season six premiere and moves into the Swamp with Hawkeye and B.J., where he is appalled by the dirt, the noise, and the company. When Frank Burns does not come back from leave, Colonel Potter makes the transfer permanent, because Charles is too good a surgeon to give up.

Personality and comedy

Charles is pompous, formal, and openly superior, but unlike Frank he is genuinely brilliant, and that changes the comedy. He can trade insults with Hawkeye as an equal, win the occasional prank war, and top the Swamp's tall tales with true stories of his own. His tape recorder and his beloved classical records start constant fights in the Swamp.

He also has to learn humility. Charles is a perfectionist who first struggles with the speed of meatball surgery, and he slowly accepts that saving more lives matters more than elegant technique. Behind the snobbery he was raised with a strong sense of duty to people less fortunate.

Key storylines

Some of Charles's best episodes reveal that hidden decency. In "Death Takes a Holiday" he secretly donates expensive chocolates to an orphanage, a family tradition, and learns the gift was sold to buy food the children needed more. In "Run for the Money" he stands up for a soldier mocked for his stutter, and the episode reveals that his beloved sister, Honoria, stutters too.

In the finale, Charles teaches a Mozart piece to a group of Chinese prisoners who play music, and the war takes them away before the end. The loss leaves him unable to hear music the same way. He heads back to Boston and the prestigious post that has been waiting for him.

Behind the scenes and legacy

Charles was introduced when Larry Linville left the show, and the writers deliberately made him the opposite of Frank in every way except his attitude toward the Swamp. He and Margaret settle into a platonic, respectful friendship, and he earns the camp's admiration when he refuses to help a superior who mistreated her. The "III" did not become part of his name until season eight.

David Ogden Stiers, a devoted classical music lover who later served for years as resident conductor of the Newport Symphony Orchestra, played Charles for the final six seasons. Fans often rank Charles among the best replacements in sitcom history.

Charles Winchester: frequently asked questions

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