Did the ‘M*A*S*H’ Cast Really Hate Gary Burghoff?
Growing up, I really enjoyed watching M*A*S*H, the hit TV show based on the 1970 Robert Altman movie of the same name. It did a great job of providing thought-provoking entertainment that always contained plenty of laughs, especially during those first few seasons. And the cast was full of absolutely amazing characters — like Walter Eugene “Radar” O’Reilly, played by Gary Burghoff.
Radar was the company clerk and, in many ways, the heart and soul of the show. While most of the other characters used sarcasm and cynicism as a means of deflecting the emotional trauma that they were experiencing, Radar still looked at things with a sense of innocence.
©20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved./courtesy Everett Collection
Burghoff played Radar in a way that allowed him to be naive without being dumb; he simply wanted to see the good in things. So when Gary announced that he would be leaving the show, there were those who wondered what the heck was going on.
Why would Gary Burghoff leave such a popular and widely beloved program?
Over the years, there has been speculation that Gary was difficult to work with and that, when he left M*A*S*H, none of the other cast members shed a tear.
When Gary left the show in Season 8, I don’t remember reading or hearing about any sort of hard feelings that the rest of the cast had about him. If memory serves me correctly, they were supportive of his desire to branch out as an actor and avoid getting typecast as Radar, which unfortunately happened anyway. And even if there were some hard feelings at the time, they certainly aren’t present any more.
For proof of that, one needs only to listen to the 2019 M*A*S*H reunion episode of Alan Alda‘s Clear and Vivid podcast to recognize that these folks are genuinely fond of each other. Alan even sent a birthday message to Gary on Twitter in 2022 saying, “Happy birthday Gary. The world sends you love.” And then in parentheses, he added, “(me too).”
Happy Birthday, Gary. The world sends you love.
(Me too) pic.twitter.com/5X7ceKmOl8— Alan Alda (@alanalda) May 24, 2022
We also know that cast mate Jamie Farr didn’t want him to leave; in a 2024 article on the MeTV website, he said: “I told Gary his leaving might be bad for the show and bad for him, but I couldn’t talk him out of it.”
20th Century Fox Film Corp./Everett Collection
Courtesy: Everett Collection
And what about Loretta Swit, the actress who played Margaret Houlihan? It would seem that her memories of Gary are good ones as well. In a 2018 article by Kurt Manwaring over on the From the Desk website, Loretta said, “I have memories with Gary that are so joyous and so funny. Missing him more often. Some of us are closer, but Gary refuses to fly. It’s difficult to get a hold of him down in one place where we can all gather.”
Remind While Gary may have finally settled into an air-travel-free life of relative anonymity, he still finds moments to use his fame for the good of others. A few years back, working with his grown children, Gary made an appearance in a YouTube video to voice his support for all of the people impacted by the tragic California wildfires that have been relentless. In the video, Gary talked about a GoFundMe page where folks can make donations. It’s still up, and to date, that page has helped raise over $16,000.
In an interview with the Television Academy, Gary shared his story. “Audiences think you have to be the person they see on screen. The truth is, Radar was a better person than I’ll ever be, and trying to live up to him was hard,” he said. “It wasn’t about fame for me. It never was. I had to make a choice that allowed me to be the kind of father and husband I wanted to be, and I’ll never regret that.”
I guess those rumors of Gary being a difficult, self-centered, ego-filled actor that no one could get along with turned out to be exactly that: rumors.
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