MASH the TV Show

MASH, which is an acronym for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital was a television series developed by Larry Gelbart, and was adapted from the movie MASH which was made in 1970. The movie, in turn was based on a 1968 book called MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, by Richard Hooker.

MASH , the television show debuted in 1972 and ran until 1983, lasting for 11 seasons and 251 episodes. The story of the Korean War, as told by the show was actually only covering a 3 year time span in South Korea.

MASH tells the story of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in South Korea and was so popular that the last original broadcast of the show in 1983 was watched by over 105 million viewers. This episode was the most watched episode in television history.

MASH had many stars over the years, including many great guest stars.
The original cast members and their roles played are listed below:

Alan Alda - "Hawkeye" Pierce
Chief Surgeon

William Christopher - FR. Mulcahy
Champlain

Loretta Swit - "Hot Lips" Houlihan
Head Nurse

Jamie Farr - Max Klinger
Corpsman/Com.clerk

Wayne Rogers -"Trapper John" McIntyre
Surgeon

McLean Stevenson -Henry Blake
Commanding Officer

Larry Linville - Major Frank Burns
Surgeon/Executive officer

Gary Burgoff -"Radar" O'Reilly
company Clerk

Mike Farrell- B.J. Hunnicutt
Surgeon ( replacing Trapper John)

Harry Morgan- Sherman Potter
commanding officer after Henry Blake

David Ogden Stiers- Major Winchester
Surgeon ( replaced Frank Burns)

Source:Wiki

Loretta Swit was born in 1937 in Passaic, New Jersey. She is an American actress known for her character roles on stage and television. She is best known for her MASH role of Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan.

In addition to being an actresss, Swit is a trained singer having trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

In the late 1960's Swit starred as one of the Pigeon sisters in the Odd Couple in Los Angeles, starring with Don Rickles and Ernest Borgnine. She later starred in The Mystery of Edwin Drood on Broadway and in several television shows including Gunsmoke, Mission Impossible, Hawaii Five-O and Mannix.

In 1972 she was cast as "Hot Lip" Houlihan in MASH, a role played in the movie by Sally Kellerman. She played the role for the entire series run.

Alan Alda, Jamie Farr, William Christopher and Swit spent a great deal of time together off the set, as they got along well. Swit received 2 Emmy Awards for her role on MASH. She later narrated a documentary on the subject of Korea, called Korea The Forgotten War.

Swit, divorced from Dennis Holahan has written a book on needlepoint and has her own jewelry line.

Actor Jamie Farr was born Jameel Farah in 1934 in Toledo, Ohio. Best known for his role as Corporal Max Klinger on MASH, Farr started acting at the age of 11 when he entered and won a local acting contest.

Farr starred in productions in high school and was "discovered" while performing at the Pasadena Playhouse. He won the role of a mentally challenged student when he did a screen test for Blackboard Jungle.

Farr found roles not too available to him, so he took random jobs as clerks in stores and the post office. In 1958, he was cast as an airman in the Andy Griffith comedy, No Time for Sergeants, also starring Don Knotts.

In the late 1950's Farr became a regular on The Red Skeleton Show and the Danny Thomas Show. He also appeared on the Dick VanDyke Show.

Jamie Farr was originally hired for one episode of MASH, but was such a hit, that his one day turned into eleven years. It is thought that his role of Corporal Klinger is based on Lenny Bruce's attempts to be released from the military, by dressing as a WAVE.

Jamie Farr, William Christopher and Harry Morgan spent 2 years starring in the show After MASH, where they explored how their characters lived as civilians. Farr is currently active in regional theatre and does an occasional guest star role.

Gary Burghoff was the only main character from MASH, the movie original to play his character in the television show. Burghoff was nominated 7 times for this tv role and won once in 1977.

The character of Radar O'Reilly was my favorite one on MASH. Burghoff made Radar come off as an innocent, almost naive man in the middle of the Korean War. He was often humorous,even when he wasn't trying to be. I saw him as kind and gently, something that I have read is really true about the actor.

Burghoff, in addition to acting has written over 100 songs and created his own Dixieland Band. Gary is very much into wildlife art and has his own wildlife sanctuary.

MASH the tv show was based on MASH the movie which in turn was based on the novel by Richard Hooker, titled MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors. The movie won an Academy Award in 1970 and starred Donald Sutherland as Hawkeye Pierce, Elliott Gould as Trapper John, Sally Kellerman as "Hot Lips" Houlihan, Robert Duval as Frank Burns, Roger Bowen as Henry Blake, René Auberjonois as Father Mulcahy and Gary Burghoff as Radar O'Reilly. Burghoff was the only regular from the movie to play a regular on the series. However, many stars of the movie appeared in the show.

There also did not appear to be a character named Corporal Klinger in the movie version. The film version also starred Joann Pflug as one of the female lieutenants.