If you’re a fan of both The Andy Griffith Show and MAS*H, you might’ve noticed some familiar faces appearing in both classic TV shows.
Like, did you know that Ron Howard, aka Opie Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show, portrayed a very compelling character on the MASH episode called “Sometimes You Hear the Bullet.” The hour an Jan. 28, 1973 and critics say it’s the first time the show turned really serious. Howard was almost 19 when he earned the role on MASH. The soldier he played wasn’t even 16 and too young to be fighting in Korea. But he used his older brother’s ID to enlist in order to impress a girl.
Howard’s Wendell ended up at the 4077th because he had appendicitis. Hawkeye wasn’t going to turn him in for being too young. Then he changed his mind. Hawkeye’s long-time friend, Tommy, also ended up on the operating table because of a bullet wound. But Tommy died. Henry Blake pulls aside a crushed Hawkeye and tells him “There are certain rules about a war. Rule Number One is: Young men die. And Rule Number Two is: Doctors can’t change Rule Number One.” So Hawkeye decided to turn in Wendell for being too young. You can save a soldier for sending him home.
Another major character from The Andy Griffith Show made an appearance on MAS*H in 1978. That’s when George Lindsey, who portrayed Gomer’s cousin Goober, played a snobby surgeon from Arkansas. Lindsey was Capt. Roy Dupree. He basically was the counterpart of Hawkeye. There was a switch of surgeons in an episode called Temporary Duty. Hawkeye headed for duty at the 8063. Lindsey’s DuPree served temp duty at the 4077.
Lindsey wrote about his MAS*H experience in his 1995 memoir. He mentioned that he knew Jamie Farr (Klinger) from his guest-starring role on The Andy Griffith Show. Farr appeared in a 1966 episode called The Gypsies. And he’d worked with Harry Morgan (Col. Potter) on a movie. A review of the episode on IMDB calls Lindsey’s character “a boorish windbag who is also an excellent surgeon. He is sort of idiot savant cowboy.”
William Christopher was empathetic Father Mulcahy on MAS*H. But in his earlier years of acting, he had a recurring role on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C, which was an Andy Griffith Show spinoff. He also was in the original, appearing in “A New Doctor in Town” as Dr. Thomas Peterson. In the episode, which ran Dec. 26, 1966, nobody in Mayberry wanted to be Peterson’s first patient.
MeTV figured out how many other recurring characters on The Andy Griffith Show also pulled MAS*H duty. So here are the others who had parts in both Mayberry and Korea.
Hope Summers portrayed Aunt Bee’s best friend Clara. She also is in a MAS*H episode called “The Trial of Henry Blake” from season two. She played a woman running clinic in Korea.
Arlene Golanka portrayed Millie in The Andy Griffith Show and its spinoff, Mayberry RFD. In one, she was Sam’s girlfriend. She also was the lady friend of Howard’s. Golanka also appeared in MAS*H as a nurse named Edwina. Both Hawkeye and Trapper John had the hots for her.
