Edward Dean Winter (June 3, 1937 – March 8, 2001) was an American actor. He is best known for his recurring role, Colonel Samuel Flagg, in the television series M*A*S*H from 1973 to 1979. His other notable television roles were as U.S. Air Force investigator Capt. Ben Ryan in season 2 of Project U.F.O. (1978–1979); and in Hollywood Beat (1985), 9 to 5 (1986–1988), and Herman's Head (1991–1994). Winter received two Tony Awards for Best Featured Actor in a Musical nominations for his performances in the original productions of Cabaret (1966) and Promises, Promises (1968). He also appeared in films such as A Change of Seasons (1980), Porky's II: The Next Day (1983) and The Buddy System (1984). Early career Winter was born in Ventura, California and began his acting career in Ashland, Oregon as a member of the cast of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. During the 1961 season, he played Claudius in Hamlet and stayed for an extended repertory season where he appeared in The Boyfriend and Rashomon. He went on to early successes on Broadway. Winter was twice nominated for Tony Awards as Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Musical). The first was in 1967, as Ernst Ludwig in Cabaret, then in 1969 as J.D. Sheldrake in Promises, Promises. He moved on to television, appearing on the daytime serials The Secret Storm and Somerset. Later career Winter was cast on M*A*S*H as Lt. Col. (later Col.) Flagg, becoming one of the program's more memorable and popular recurring characters. He appeared in seven episodes as Flagg during the show's 11-year run. The Flagg character was an intelligence agent (claiming to be C.I.A. several times) who brought a stereotypically paranoid, conspiracy-driven approach to his tasks. In some episodes his character was particularly vicious. Before his introduction as Flagg, Winter had appeared on the series as Captain Halloran. A number of fans have expressed the belief that Captain Halloran might have been one of Flagg's many aliases, especially as he said to Dr. Freedman, "we played poker once," which Captain Halloran had. However, this is debatable, as Halloran was a reasonably amiable character, whilst every other persona Flagg adopted was highly antagonistic, regardless of the alias. Winter reprised the role of Col. Flagg in an episode of the spin-off series AfterMASH in 1984. In 1985 he appeared in the pilot episode of Misfits of Science as an army officer who is killed