The Only M*A*S*H Actor Who Was In Every Single Episode
Any show that runs for 11 seasons is going to have some cast turnover, and the beloved military sitcom "M*A*S*H" is no exception. The more jocular (to borrow a word from Father Mulcahy) earlier seasons featured playful surgeon Trapper John (Wayne Rogers) and dopey Lt. Colonel Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson), while the post-season 3 run is characterized by the presence of Hawkeye's new, more principled partner in crime, B.J. (Mike Farrell) and career military man Colonel Potter (Harry Morgan). Throughout its storied 256-episode run, sweet company clerk Radar (Gary Burghoff) and sniveling loser Frank (Larry Linville) also said goodbye, while haughty, aristocratic Winchester (David Ogden Stiers) eventually became a part of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital.
Only a small handful of cast members were with "M*A*S*H" from beginning to end, including Alan Alda's compassionate goofball surgeon Hawkeye, Loretta Swit's stern head nurse Margaret, crossdressing corporal Klinger (Jamie Farr), and contemplative priest Father Mulcahy (William Christopher). Other members of the brigade who were in one way or another ever-present include Nurse Kellye (Kellye Nakahara), who went from background character to an underrated favorite over the show's run, and the voice behind the camp's intercom announcements, which were performed by multiple actors including Sal Viscuso. With a sprawling, ever-changing cast and a prolific run, only one actor was present for every single episode of "M*A*S*H": Alda.
Only one character clowned his way through 256 episodes
It's no surprise that Alda's Hawkeye shows up in all 256 episodes of the long-running series, not just because he's the show's protagonist, but because he's such a ham. The witty surgeon covers up for his fears and heartbreaks by joking a mile a minute, and you get the sense that if everyone stops paying attention to him for too long, he might just fall over and die.
The actor literalized Hawkeye's neuroses in the season 4 episode "Hawkeye," in which the titular character, concussed, ends up in the home of a local South Korean family. His limited knowledge of the Korean language means the group can't communicate, and the head injury means he can't fall asleep, so Alda ends up monologuing through the entire episode, going through a wide range of emotions all the while. Not only was Alda talented enough to hold "M*A*S*H" together through its many iterations — he was also talented enough to headline an episode where no other cast members appeared.
Alda eventually became a writer and director on the series, and along with executive producer Burt Metcalfe, he helped shape the show in its later years. As "M*A*S*H" experimented with the boundaries of the sitcom format over the years, it aired several episodes that took an unusual approach to an episodic story, including "Point of View," which was shot from the perspective of a bedridden patient, "The Interview," a black-and-white documentary, and "Follies of the Living – Concerns of the Dead," in which a feverish Klinger communicates with ghosts. No matter how experimental the show got, though, Hawkeye always made an appearance, quipping his way through a seemingly unending war in an all-time great performance by Alda.