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Yeah. You are referring to Goldwyn's appearance as an HIV infected interior designer in the episode Killing All The Right People from I wanna say either season 1 or 2. He was only in that one ep.

I too was totally unfamiliar with Goldwyn until recently. Never knowing all these years that he was a supporting player in a number blockbuster films in the mid to late-ninties. In the last ten years he's done theater, tv work, and even directed a few notable tv series. Hell, he even directed Hillary Swank in the true-life drama Conviction a couple years back. Very prolific guy.

Interestingly enough, because of his turn on DW, I always assumed he was gay. Not so according to his Wikipedia page.

They used to do that kind of thing a LOT--introduce a character and start with a scene that shows that he's a terrific friend of all the regular characters. It's so we'll know that their feelings are real and meaningful, but they don't have to spend a lot of screen time setting up WHY the character is so important. Seems as though you don't see it so often anymore, but shows used to do it all the time.