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…
THE CAMERAS STOPPED ROLLING BUT LORETTA SWIT COULDN’T STOP CRYING.
The restaurant in Los Angeles was too quiet for a Friday afternoon. Gary sat across from Loretta, his hands wrapped around a coffee cup that seemed too big…
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 VOICEOVER KING… BUT HE HID HIS OWN TRUE VOICE
David Ogden Stiers was a man who lived in the deep resonance of his own chest. To the global audience, he was the quintessential aristocrat. Whether he was…
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…
THEY THOUGHT KLINGER WAS FINALLY GOING HOME… UNTIL JAMIE FARR STOPPED.
The sun was setting behind the rolling hills of Malibu, a landscape that once stood in for a war zone half a world away. Jamie Farr sat in…
THE DAY THE MASH CAST TURNED A CASUALTY INTO A COMEDY
I was sitting in this small, dimly lit studio in Los Angeles a few years back for a podcast. The host was one of those young, energetic guys…
THE ICON OF SMALL-TOWN INNOCENCE… BUT HIS REALITY WAS HIDDEN HANDS
For eleven years, the world knew him as the heartbeat of the 4077th. He was the boy-man in the oversized cap who could hear the helicopters before they…
THE BLADES WERE JUST NOISE… UNTIL THE ECHO HIT THEIR SOULS
The sun was beginning to dip behind the jagged, sun-scorched peaks of the Santa Monica mountains. It was that specific time of day in California where the light…