M*A*S*H

‘M*A*S*H’ Stars Alan Alda and Wayne Rogers’s Touching Revelation Led to Greatness on Set

There was something special in the on-screen connection between “M*A*S*H” stars Alan Alda and Wayne Rogers. What led to their greatness?

Alda, who played “Hawkeye” Pierce on the CBS sitcom, remembered a certain situation in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. It revolved around a dream that the actor had in his sleep.

“I told him about one in which I was playing a scene in the show and the director asked me to crawl up the side of an armoire and do my lines from there,” Alda said. “Then, he made it worse and told me to go the top of the cabinet and play the scene from there.

“He said he could get a better shot that way, even though I knew there was no reason for me to be on top of an armoire,” Alda said.

‘M*A*S*H’ Star Said Rogers Shared That He Thought It Was ‘Important Dream’

The “M*A*S*H” actor recalls, “Wayne thought about this silently for a couple of miles and then he said, ‘This is an important dream. Directors are always asking us to do things that are unbelievable, just to accommodate the camera. Your dream is telling us never to do that. We have to remember never to do an armoire.’

“And we did remember,” Alda said. “From then on, whenever a director asked us to do something we thought cheated reality just a little too much, we’d give each other a look and one of us would quietly say, ‘Don’t do an armoire.’”

Rogers played “Trapper John” McIntyre for three seasons. Despite their connection on “M*A*S*H,” the actor would feel like all of the best, funniest lines were being directed to Alda.

When he leaves the show, Rogers’ place gets filled by actor Mike Farrell, who plays B.J. Hunnicutt.

Alda Shared With Interviewer How He Spent His Time Back In 2020

But Alda does keep himself busy. Even during the height of the pandemic, the “M*A*S*H” actor was making appearances…even while keeping 6 feet of distance.

It was in May 2020 and Alda shared with AARP about how he was staying positive. Alda’s positive demeanor caught some of his friends off-guard.

“I’m having a good time, under the circumstances,” Alda said. “The other day, we were walking 6 feet apart with friends in a secluded area and I said, ‘What’s the best thing that’s happened since this began?’ One friend looked at me with a kind of stupefied expression, like, What do you mean ‘best’? What’s good?”

Alda also has done some films, too. One of them, “Paper Lion,” is based on the book by author George Plimpton. The author wrote about his experience trying out for the NFL’s Detroit Lions.

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