Actor Charles Siebert, best known for his role as Dr. Stanley Riverside II in the 1979 series Trapper John, MD, has died. Official reports say Siebert’s death was caused by COVID-19-related pneumonia; he passed away on May 1st, 2022, aged 84, in a San Francisco hospital. An official statement regarding Siebert’s death has been released by the 6th Street Playhouse in Santa Rosa, California.
Charles Siebert, born in 1938 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, first made his claim to fame on the theatrical stage, studying at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, or LAMDA. He originally appeared in regional productions such as Shakespeare in the Park in New York, the American Shakespeare Festival in Connecticut, and other theaters in New Jersey, Chicago, and Baltimore before making his Broadway debut in a 1967 production of Life of Galileo, written by Bertolt Brecht. According to Deadline, Charles Siebert would make the Broadway stage five more times before 1970, but his TV debut was made in 1969 on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow.
Following his television debut, Charles Siebert would appear in many other soap operas throughout the late 60s and early 70s, including appearing on One Day at a Time as lead character Ann Romano (Bonnie Franklin)’s boss. Additionally, Siebert also made appearances on Hawk, N.Y.P.D., The Adams Chronicles and Kojak before appearing in his largest role on Trapper John, MD.
Charles Siebert Rises to Fame on ‘Trapper John, MD’
First released on CBS in 1979, Trapper John, MD was a spinoff of the popular film MAS*H (1970), which depicted the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in South Korea. The spinoff series focused around John Francis Xavier “Trapper John” McIntyre, played by Elliott Gould in the film, and Pernell Roberts in Trapper John, MD. Described as having a “dry, sardonic, deadpan sense of humor,” Trapper John, MD depicts the titular doctor as a middle-aged surgeon in a San Francisco hospital.
In Trapper John, MD, Charles Siebert appears as Stanley Riverside II, a “pompous, status-seeking, but nonetheless capable doctor” who is the son of the head of the hospital board of directors and later marries a dentist named E.J. (Marcia Rodd). Siebert portrayed Stanley throughout all seven seasons of Trapper John, MD up until the show’s conclusion in 1986. During the course of Trapper John, MD, Siebert created a directorial career that would include seven episodes of that series, along with episodes of Xena: Warrior Princess (1995) and Pacific Blue (1996), among others.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Charles Siebert is survived by his second wife Kristine Leroux Siebert, children Christopher and Gillian Bozanic, stepdaughter Kristina Harvey, and stepsons Max and Jeremy Leroux.
