based on the 1970 robert altman film of
the same name the tv series mash became
a massive phenomenon throughout the 70s
despite the massive success of the show
numerous maine cast members quit the
series for various reasons before it
ended join fax first as we take a look
at mash actors who quit the show early
larry linville as major frank burns
actor larry linville played major frank
burns on mash for five seasons before
calling it quits as with many actors who
quit the groundbreaking comedic series
larry's character wasn't even given a
farewell episode instead the character
of major frank burns simply never
appeared after the show's fifth season
with his absence being explained away in
the premiere of the sixth season
unceremoniously up until that time
burns's love interest on mash had been
the character major margaret houlihan
the last episode of the show's fifth
season had featured margaret getting
married and it was explained in the
first episode of the sixth season that
frank had essentially had a mental
breakdown and gone to tokyo to find
margaret on her honeymoon in tokyo his
mental breakdown causes him to believe
every woman he sees is margaret and he
ends up getting put on psychiatric hold
once the 4077th finds out what has
happened to frank they end up
transferring him to a veterans hospital
located in indiana though not before
giving the character a token promotion
the reason for larry linville's
departure was he simply didn't feel the
character of major frank burns had
anywhere more to go larry felt the
character was devolving into a
caricature and no longer had a purpose
now that houlihan had moved on with her
new husband larry left mash in 1977 and
continued acting sporadically in the
years leading up to his death some of
the other series he could be seen on
include manix and the doctors he could
also be seen in the cult classic movies
earth girls are easy and rock and roll
high school forever the actor died as a
result of complications relating to a
surgery undergone to remove a deadly
tumor from his lung
mclean stevenson as lieutenant colonel
henry blake before larry linville left
maclean stevenson had memorably quit the
show after its third season unlike larry
mclean's character was given a farewell
episode though one that was seen as
fairly groundbreaking for the time
typically on sitcoms of the day
characters weren't written off of shows
permanently even if the actor playing
them quit this was done just in case the
actor decided they wanted to come back
eventually but mash changed this mclean
played the character lieutenant colonel
henry blake during the first three
seasons but he decided to quit the show
when it became apparent that alan aldo's
hawkeye was gradually being given more
and more time on screen by the end of
the show there was no question that
hawkeye was the main character though it
had started with a more ensemble cast
when it became apparent mclean wanted to
leave the writers decided they wanted to
try something different since mash was
dealing with heavier themes than the
typical comedy due to the fact it was
taking place within the korean war the
writers decided it would be appropriate
to kill mclean's character off the
series lieutenant colonel henry blake
was killed off in the final episode of
the third season and the death was
actually kept a surprise from mclean's
co-stars up until just before filming of
the scene began it was also a complete
surprise to the extras that had been
brought on for the scene meaning the
reaction you see in the episode is
genuine mclean always admitted he left
mash because he wanted to be the show's
main character sadly the actor never
found a starring vehicle that was right
for him before his 1996 death he went on
to star in several failed sitcoms and
was often made fun of because he had
quit mash during its most successful
years thankfully he was able to see the
humor and the fact that he had quit mash
for such egotistical reasons hey if
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more mash characters who left early
gary berghoff as walter radar o'reilly
gary berghoff was an actor from the film
version of mash that reprised his role
for the series sadly gary ended up
quitting the show well before its end
due to the feeling he had creative
burnout in regards to performing his
character
that character was walter radar o'reilly
who was written off the series in 1979.
gary had been playing the character for
around a decade at that time gary has
claimed he couldn't bring himself to
continue performing if he wasn't able to
give it 100
since he was experiencing burnout he
felt he needed to quit the show before
his distaste with the work started
becoming apparent to the audience
although producers understood gary's
logic they still did everything they
could to keep the actor on the show soon
after he announced his intentions to
leave the producers offered the actor a
staggering 4 million dollars to keep
performing on the show while that would
have made gary one of the highest paid
actors on television he still wouldn't
have been making quite as much as
co-star alan alda who played hawkeye
throughout the whole run
allen was making a little over 5 million
dollars at the time for portraying
hawkeye and an additional million for
being one of mash's writers money wasn't
the issue gary was worried about so he
turned down the multiple millions he was
offered what he really wanted after a
decade of performing the character radar
was to spend some time with his friends
and family the actor subsequently
returned to his home state of
connecticut and did just that though
eventually he returned to tv to portray
that character of radar yet again in the
spin-off series after mash gary even
filmed a pilot for a separate spin-off
that would have revolved primarily
around the character of radar titled
walter it seems his break to spend time
with friends and family rejuvenated his
work ethic
wayne rogers as trapper john mcintyre
wayne rogers is another notable actor
who quit mash because he felt his
character was being given reduced time
to make room for more hawkeye when the
series began the characters of hawkeye
and trapper john portrayed by wayne were
essentially on equal footing but the
margin between the writer's interest in
the characters became apparent by the
end of the third season trapper john
mcintyre is another character who was
written off of mash fairly
unceremoniously
the writers simply acknowledged the
character had been discharged after
wayne rogers was already out the door
one of the reasons the departure was so
unceremonious was the producers didn't
want the actor to leave in fact they
attempted to sue the actor for breach of
contract but an issue arose when it was
revealed that wayne rogers had never
actually signed the contract he was
asked to when he first started the
reason he had refused was he was
allegedly put off by one of the included
clauses this made it so he was allowed
to leave without any legal troubles many
years after leaving the show wayne was
asked to reprise the role of trapper
john in the spin-off series trapper john
m.d but the actor ended up turning it
down even after being assured his
character would be better developed that
character ended up being played on that
series by actor adam cartwright who had
previously appeared on bonanza the
producers of mash tried to get trapper
john md taken off the air because the
series didn't ask for permission from
them to use the character but the team
behind trapper john md ended up getting
away with this by claiming the series
was based off the 1970 movie and not the
tv series although wayne rogers turned
down the chance to reprise trapper john
he continued working on television
sporadically until his 2015 death now
it's time to hear from you did you know
that multiple actors quit mash because
they felt alan alda was getting too much
screen time let us know in the comment
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