In “M*A*S*H: The Comedy That Changed Television,” Gary Burghoff said that he hated the character of Klinger at first. Meanwhile, Loretta Swit said that Klinger was her mother’s favorite character, even over Margaret!Here is the continuation of the story, expanding on those behind-the-scenes dynamics and celebrating the unexpected magic of Klinger:
Gary’s initial frustration wasn’t born out of malice, but out of a fierce, protective love for his own character. For the first season, Radar O’Reilly was the undisputed eccentric heartbeat of the 4077th. He had his teddy bear, his uncanny psychic hearing, and his naive farm-boy charm. Then, suddenly, a hairy, cigar-chomping corporal from Toledo stumbled into camp wearing a floral print dress and a fuzzy pink hat.
Gary worried that Corporal Maxwell Q. Klinger was too broad, too cartoonish, and that his outrageous cross-dressing gags would distract from the grounded, gritty reality of the medical camp.
But Jamie Farr had a secret weapon: profound, undeniable humanity.
Jamie didn’t just play Klinger as a walking visual punchline. He infused the character with fierce loyalty, street-smart dignity, and a desperate, deeply relatable desire to just survive the war and go home. Before long, Gary Burghoff didn’t just accept Klinger—he marveled at Jamie’s performance. He realized that Radar and Klinger were actually two sides of the same coin: innocent youth and desperate survival, both just trying to navigate the madness of Korea.
Loretta Swit, on the other hand, found Klinger’s charm hilariously inescapable—especially when it came to her own family.
Loretta worked tirelessly, fighting the writers and directors to make Major Margaret Houlihan a complex, formidable, and respected woman of authority. Yet, whenever she called home to check in with her mother after an episode aired, the conversation inevitably took a frustratingly funny detour.
“My mother would say, ‘You were wonderful this week, dear, so professional,'” Loretta recalled with a bright, exasperated laugh. “‘But please tell me… where does Jamie get those fabulous hats? And what on earth is Klinger wearing next week?'”
Loretta couldn’t even be mad. She understood exactly what her mother—and the rest of America—was falling in love with.
Klinger was originally supposed to be a one-joke guest star, a quick visual gag meant to appear in a single episode and then vanish. Instead, Jamie Farr took a few yards of cheap chiffon and spun it into television gold. He created a character so vividly alive, so incredibly resilient, and so surprisingly tender that he completely stole the hearts of the audience.
He won over a protective Gary Burghoff.
He outranked Major Houlihan in the eyes of Loretta Swit’s own mother.
And ultimately, he won over the entire world, proving that sometimes, the bravest thing a soldier can do in the middle of a war is put on a velvet gown, hold his head high, and dare the world to break his spirit.
