M*A*S*H (TV series)

"We really havent slept much in eleven years. Larry [Gelbart] used to stay up all night writing us scripts the night before we began shooting; Ive done it a number of times. … M*A*S*H has changed my life. Its given me the chance to develop as a writer and a director—and as an actor. … Ive learned to work with people in … a creative way that I really never knew before and didnt know was possible. Weve all learned that; weve all grown as people and as professionals, as artists. … Were stopping because … we feel that if we went further we would risk squeezing it dry, not being able to give it our best …. [F]rom the beginning, Gene Reynolds and Larry Gelbart encouraged the actors each week to comment on the script, and wed go through it take by take …. [W]e worked all night to get it as good as we could."

"Mike Farrell as B. J. Hunnicutt (replaced Trapper; seasons 4–11)"

"Gene Reynolds and I—and Burt Metcalfe, who started as associate producer and wound up eventually as executive producer of the series—we talked to countless surgeons, nurses, chopper pilots, patients, orderlies involved either in [the Korean War or the Vietnam War] …. [We] combined big, thick loose-leaf binders filled with their memories, their observations, their experiences of the … wars. And that served us in very good stead; we used an awful lot of stuff. … Gene and I, after the second season, went to Korea, visited what had been the real-life counterpart of the fictional 4077th, and spent a couple of weeks with the people there, and brought back some 22 hours of audiotape—again with those impressions that were invaluable to us.They shut down the actual MASH unit in June of 1997. I was invited to go over, my wife was invited to go over, with Larry Linville and David Ogden Stiers, and we watched them case the flag. And it was quite touching to sit on this little parade ground and hear a little Army band—it was not like the movies at all—play the units song, and then play "Suicide Is Painless". That was not a show business event. They were not there to celebrate the series, they were there to honor the unit that had served so long and so well; but, they couldnt help acknowledge how proud they were. Its not every Army unit that has a series dedicated to them."

"Im always astounded by the number of cameras that point at us when we talk about this show, and by the amount of interest. And Im astounded by the breadth and depth of the [reach] that television is capable of, evidenced by the telegrams that were read at the beginning of this conference, [from] Secretary Kissinger and President Ford and President Reagan. It moves me to the realization that television is a great medium for bringing people together, because thats probably the [only] time I will ever agree with any of the three of them."

"I dont know [if M*A*S*H has made me a better actor], but I know its made me a better human being. … I think theres a nobility about … what [the show] attempts to do, and theres a nobility about the people who are playing these parts. And the longer weve been together, the more familiar we are with one another, the deeper weve gone … into ourselves, so that when were playing scenes with one another, its … the two characters plus the two people who are wearing the clothes … of those characters."

"Im feeling like I have another couple of years to become most fully and most honestly myself with this group of people, because Im not an actual joiner; Im essentially a private person. And now … Im beginning to see the power and the potential in committing yourself to a group, and that it doesnt threaten your individuality, it teaches you about it."

"Loretta Swit as Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (seasons 1–11)"

"I do get letters from the clergy, and [Ive received] some very nice comments … from spiritual leaders saying that M*A*S*H seems to have made a contribution [to changing Americans attitudes toward war]. And I like to think thats true."

"Jamie Farr as Maxwell Q. Klinger (seasons 1–11)"

"Wayne Rogers as John Francis Xavier "Trapper John" McIntyre (seasons 1–3)"

"Alan Alda as Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce (seasons 1–11)"

"George Morgan as John Patrick Francis Mulcahy (pilot episode)"