With the recent passing of Loretta Swit, who played Major Margaret Houlihan On MASH, we are left with the sad knowledge that very few of the actors who played our beloved characters are with us. Fortunately, four MASH actors are still living, Alan Alda (Hawkeye), Gary Burghoff (Radar), Jamie Farr (Klinger), and Mike Farrell (BJ Hunnicutt). How is their health?
Alan Alda
Alan Alda, who played Captain Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce, was born January 28, 1936. He is now 89 years old. The six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner and a three-time Tony Award nominee announced in 2018 that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2015. Despite this, let’s hope he sticks around until he’s well into his one-hundreds or more!
Gary Burghoff
Gary Burghoff, who played Corporal Walter Eugene “Radar” O’Reilly, was born May 24, 1943. He is 82 years old. I am not aware of him having any active health problems but you may not know that he was born with Poland Syndrome. This is a a rare birth defect that causes developmental abnormalities on one side of the body, mostly the right side.
In Burghoff, this caused brachydactyly, a shortening of the fingers. It was carefully hidden in the show but you can see it once in a while, including in the first episode when Radar is holding a football with his fingers splayed on it. Ironically, this would have kept him out of the draft! He seems to be in good health, regardless. By the way, you may not realize that Gary Burghoff speaks the first full line of dialogue in the show.
Jamie Farr
Jamie Farr, who played Corporal Maxwell Klinger, was born July 1, 1934. This undderated actor is 90 years old! Farr has suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis since the early 1990s and today uses a wheelchair to get around. After a dinner show in Edmonton in 2014, Farr collapsed and was taken to the hospital. He managed to finish the week of shows until a replacement was found. Back home in California, a stent was put into his heart to treat atherosclerosis. He was advised to adjust his diet and lifestyle. After this, he retired from performing.
Let’s hope old Klinger is doing well and is still laughing and smiling! Klinger was such an great character, he rated his own tent.
Mike Farrell
Mike Farrell, who played Captain BJ Hunnicutt, was born February 6, 1939. He is 86 years old. There are no reports of ongoing health concerns from Farrell, but unfortunately, Mike Farrell’s wife, Shelley Fabares, required a liver transplant due to complications from an auto-immune disorder. This caused Farrell to have to become her full-time caregiver. While, as far as we know, he is healthy, he has spoken about the challenges of being a caregiver for his wife and balancing that with his own needs. Mike Farrell has also become Co-chair Emeritus of Human Rights Watch in California and President of Death Penalty Focus.
Other Notable MASH Regulars
Although he was not a principal character, Jeff Maxwell, who played the recurring character Igor Straminsky, is alive and well. Since September 2018 he has been hosting a podcast called MASH Matters, which, much like this website, honors the show.
Another actor who probably seemed like a long-term regular, since he was so colorful, is G.W Bailey who played Sergeant Luther Rizzo. Rizzo only appeared in 13 episodes, starting in Season 8 but he’s definitely memorable. Bailey is also known for the Police Academy films (1984–1994) where he played Lieutenant/Captain Thaddeus Harris, and as Captain Felix Maxwell in Mannequin (1987). He played Detective Lieutenant Louie Provenza on The Closer and on it’s spin-off series, Major Crimes from 2005 to 2018.
Rosalind Chao, who played Soon-Lee, Klinger’s love interest and later wife, only appeared in two MASH episodes but then later appeared in 30 episodes of AfterMash as Klinger’s wife may not a MASH regular but she certainly captured the hearts of viewers. She’s probably the only Korean character whose name MASH fans remember. She is still very much alive an well and enjoying a busy career, including as Ye Wenjie in Netflix’s Three Body Problem. Wow!
Deaths of MASH Actors
Johnny Haymer, Sergeant Zale, died in 1989. Of the main cast members who have died, McClean Stevenson, who played Col. Henry Blake, was the first to go on February 15, 1996. He was recovering from bladder surgery Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center on February 15, 1996, and suffered a sudden and fatal heart attack.
Larry Linville, who played Major Frank Burns, was died next in April 2000. After a malignant tumor was sound under his sternum, he had a surgery to remove part of a lung. His health never fully recovered and he died at Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City on April 10, 2000. Here is a list of those MASH actors who have died, in the order in which their deaths occurred.
- Johnny Haymer (Sergeant Zelmo Zale): Age 69, cancer – born January 19, 1920, died November 18, 1989
- McLean Stevenson (Colonel Henry Blake): Age 68, heart attack after bladder surgery – born November 14, 1927, died February 15, 1996
- Larry Linville (Major Frank Burns):Age 60, complications from cancer surgery – born September 29, 1939, died April 10, 2000
- Edward Dean Winter (Colonel Flagg): Age 63, complications of Parkinson’s disease, born June 3, 1937, died March 8, 2001
- Harry Morgan (Colonel Sherman T. Potter): Age 96, natural causes – born April 10, 1915, died December 7, 2011
- Allan Arbus (Dr. Sidney Freedman): Age 95, congestive heart failure – born February 15, 1918, died April 19, 2013
- Wayne Rogers (Captain “Trapper” John McIntyre): Age 82, complications of pneumonia – born April 7, 1933, died December 31, 2015
- William Christopher (Father Francis John Patrick Mulcahy): Age 84, non-small-cell carcinoma (lung cancer) – born October 20, 1932, died December 31, 2016 (one year after Wayne Rogers)
- David Ogden Stiers (Major Charles Emerson Winchester): Age 75, bladder cancer – born October 31, 1942, died March 3, 2018
- Kellye Nakahara Wallett (Nurse Kellye): Age 72, cancer – born January 16, 1948, died – February 16, 2020
- Patrick Robert Adiarte (Ho Jon): Age 82, pneumonia – born August 2, 1942, died April 15, 2025
