M*A*S*H was one of the most popular sitcoms in the history of television. It ran from
1972 to 1983, putting it in the rare group of series that last for more than a decade.
The final episode was a record-setting event, with more than 105 million people tuning in.
With it being nearly 40 years since the finale aired, there aren’t many MASH actors who
are still alive. Many members of the main cast have passed away over the years, including
William Christopher (Father Mulcahy), Wayne Rogers (Trapper John), Larry Linville (Major
Frank Burns), Harry Morgan (Colonel Potter), and McLean Stevenson (Lt. Colonel Blake).
In this video, we’re going to look at the few remaining actors from the show and what
they’ve been up to in the years since. Be sure to watch to the end to learn how they’ve
kept in touch through modern technology. And remember to click the like button down below
and subscribe to the Facts Verse channel so you don’t miss any of our new videos.
Odessa Cleveland Odessa Cleveland played Ginger Bayliss from
1972 through 1975. She was one of the MASH nurses most frequently featured in the first
few seasons. She also guest-starred on an episode of Trapper John, M.D., one of the
spin-off series that followed MASH, in 1986. Nurse Bayliss was one of the few black actors
that had a recurring part on the show. Her character was a focal point in the the second
season episode “Dear Dad...Three” when she was forced to treat an angry, racist patient.
Jeff Maxwell Jeff Maxwell played Igor Straminsky throughout
the series’ run. He never became a series regular, but his character appeared here and
there for ten years. Many of his appearances in the early seasons went uncredited but as
time went by, his part became more important to the episodes. These days, he hosts a podcast
called MASH Matters. On that show, he discusses MASH and the film and TV industry in general
with his co-host Ryan Patrick. George Morgan
George Morgan isn’t very recognizable from his time on MASH. He played the role of Father
Mulcahy in the pilot episode but a new actor — William Christopher — took over the
role from that point on. Unfortunately, Morgan’s acting career didn’t go very far after he
was replaced on the show. He’s only had three professional acting roles since then,
according to IMDB. Morgan is hardly the only sitcom actor that
lost a role after the pilot episode. In fact, his MASH co-star Loretta Swit was originally
cast as Cagney in the CBS series Cagney and Lacey. Her contractual obligations for the
final season of MASH forced her to give up the role. Other prominent examples are Lee
Garlington, who was originally cast as Elaine Benis on Seinfeld, and Amanda Walsh, who preceded
Kaley Cuoco as the female lead on The Big Bang Theory.
Mike Farrell Mike Farrell played Captain B.J. Hunnicutt
on MASH. He joined the show in season four as a replacement for Wayne Rogers’ character
“Trapper” John. Farrell’s wife at the time, Judy Farrell, also appeared on MASH
in the role of Nurse Able. More recently Mike Farrell has appeared on popular drama series
like NCIS and American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace.
Gary Burghoff Gary Burghoff played the fan-favorite character
Walter “Radar” O’Reilly for the first eight seasons of MASH. He was the youngest
of the show’s main characters and is only 78 years old today. Burghoff is notable for
being the only actor from the 1970 movie MASH to reprise his role on the TV series two years
later. He left the cast in 1979 but returned later the same year for a two-part special
episode called Goodbye Radar. Jamie Farr
Jamie Farr played Corporal Maxwell Q. Klinger for all eleven seasons of MASH but it was
only a recurring role for the first three seasons. He was promoted to a series regular
in the fourth season. At 87 years old, Farr is the oldest remaining main cast member from
the show. Before landing his role on MASH, Farr actually served in Korea with the United
States Army. According to an article he wrote for the U.S. Naval Institute, Farr wore his
real dog tags on the show. Loretta Swit
Loretta Swit played Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan, the only female in the main cast
of MASH. She guest-starred on several popular series in the early 1970s including Hawaii
Five-O, Gunsmoke, and Mission: Impossible but it was her role on MASH that made her
a household name. Her performance on the show was critically acclaimed and she was nominated
for ten Emmy Awards over the show’s run, winning two of them. Swit has mostly retired
from acting, having only one acting role since the 1990s, according to IMDB.
Alan Alda Alan Alda played Captain Benjamin Franklin
“Hawkeye” Pierce for the full eleven-season run of MASH. He was the only actor that appeared
in all 256 episodes of the show. Over the show’s run, he won five Emmy Awards and
remains a well-known, successful actor today. His most recent work was a recurring role
on the TV series Ray Donovan and a supporting role in the Oscar-nominated film A Marriage
Story. In the years since the show went off the air,
the surviving cast members have reunited on a few occasions. In 2018, more than 35 years
after the award-winning final episode of MASH, Jamie Farr and Loretta Swit came together
as presenters at the Daytime Emmy Awards in Pasadena California. They were two of only
four characters that were on the show for its full eleven-season run.
A more complete reunion happened the following year, in 2019, when Swit, Burghoff, Farrell,
and Farr all appeared on Alan Alda’s podcast Clear+Vivid.
Fans of the show have been rewatching, reading about, and dissecting MASH for decades so
you would think that everything that could be said has been, but it seemed that’s not
the case. When the cast got together for Alda’s podcast, the stories started to spill. The
podcast conversation is a must-listen for anyone who’s a fan of the show.
You can immediately hear the chemistry between the old friends and colleagues. The actors
were spread out across the country and came together by video chat and telephone but as
Alda says in the introduction, the kidding and laughing began as soon as they heard one
another’s voices. The surviving cast treats listeners to some favorite behind-the-scenes
stories as well as some fascinating never-before-shared details.
They recalled the stark filming conditions on the Fox lot and at the mountain filming
location. For instance, the ventilation was poor in Colonel Potter’s office set, to
the point that Gary Burghoff started to suffer from a lack of oxygen. And there was no telephone
access in the field, which resulted in Alda reading a strange line from the script with
a typo. It was a full six years before there was even
a bathroom available on the stage. And Swit recalled that McLean Stevenson had so many
ants in his dressing room, one his boots was moving.
They also talked about how they had to pay for their own coffee and peanut butter early
in the series’ run. Farr tells a story of the cast going to the then-president of 20th
Century Fox Television, Sy Salkowitz, and each slapping a $100 bill on his desk to demand
more peanut butter. After asking if they wanted smooth or crunchy, Salkowitz arranged for
a pallet of peanut butter to be delivered the next day. They had so much that it reached
from the floor to the ceiling. Farr also talks about the origin of several
of the memorable dresses he wore on the show. One was a gold lame outfit once worn by none
other than Ginger Rogers. According to Farr, Rogers caught him in the commissary one day
saying, “That dress looked a hell of a lot better on you than it did on me.”
They also reminisced about pranks they played on one another, including one from David Ogden
Stiers involving frozen yogurt and Sir Richard Attenborough.
Burghoff shared the history of Radar’s first name, Walter. It was in tribute to one of
his childhood friends. The real Walter has since passed away but Burghoff remains in
touch with his brother to this day. Whether you’re a casual fan of MASH or you
know everything there is to know about the show, you’ll likely hear a few new stories
in the podcast. They also talk about some of the things that have changed with working
on modern TV shows compared to the methods used in the days of MASH. And hearing those
familiar voices after all these years is pretty heart-warming.