THE REFINED ARISTOCRAT… BUT HIS GREATEST TRUTH REMAINED UNSPOKEN FOR DECADES
To the world, he was the embodiment of upper-crust rigidity. He was the man who brought a portable record player to a war zone so he could listen…
JAMIE FARR RECALLS THE ABSURDITY OF RUNNING IN A WEDDING DRESS
I was sitting on a stage at one of those nostalgia conventions a few years back, just soaking in the energy of the crowd. A young man in…
THE HELICOPTER FADED AWAY BUT LORETTA SWIT COULDN’T STOP CRYING.
Loretta Swit sat in a quiet room across from Jamie Farr, the afternoon sun catching the silver in their hair. They weren’t in the dust of Malibu anymore….
THE SOUND IN THE CANYON STOPPED GARY BURGHOFF DEAD IN HIS TRACKS.
The hills of Malibu don’t change much, even when the men walking them have grayed at the temples. Jamie Farr stood on a patch of dry, golden grass,…
THE WORLD’S MOST ARROGANT ARISTOCRAT… BUT HIS GREATEST TRUTH REMAINED HIDDEN
David Ogden Stiers arrived on the set of the most popular show in America as a replacement for a beloved character. He didn’t just fill a gap; he…
THE STICKY TRUTH BEHIND THE MOST SERIOUS SURGERY AT THE 4077TH
The auditorium was packed, the kind of crowd that only a show like MAS*H can draw decades after the final helicopter took flight. Alan Alda sat center stage,…
GARY BURGHOFF STEPPED BACK INTO THE TENT AND LOST HIS BREATH.
The air in the hills of Malibu still carries that particular scent of sage and dry earth. Loretta Swit stood at the edge of the old ranch, her…
THE ARISTOCRATIC MAJOR… BUT HIS GREATEST TRUTH WAS KEPT IN SHADOWS
The set of MAS*H was a place of high energy and sharp wit, but David Ogden Stiers often seemed to exist in a slightly different orbit. While his…
MCLEAN STEVENSON AND THE GREAT YELLOW TACO INCIDENT ON SET
It was during the 20th-anniversary reunion special in the early nineties, just a few years before McLean Stevenson passed away. He was sitting there with that classic, crooked…
THE CAST DIDN’T KNOW THE TRAGEDY WAS COMING UNTIL THE CHOPPERS ARRIVED.
It started with a low hum in the distance, the kind that vibrates in your teeth before you actually hear it. Gary Burghoff and Loretta Swit were standing…