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Alan Alda reflected on the legacy of his hit show M*A*S*H on its 50th birthday.
The veteran actor, 86, who played Captain Benjamin “Hawkeye” Pierce in the critically acclaimed dark war comedy show that premiered on CBS on September 17, 1972, shared how grateful he was for the show’s success and staying power.
Alda shared that when people ask him about M*A*S*H he “feels gratitude that what we did all those years ago is still on people’s minds” in a new interview with People.
Looking back: Alan Alda, 86, reflected on the legacy of his hit show M*A*S*H on its 50th birthday and shared how grateful he was for its success and staying power; Pictured 2020
M*A*S*H is an adaptation of the 1970 feature film of the same name and aired on CBS for 11 seasons from September 1972 to February 28, 1983.
The series is one of the highest-rated shows in U.S. television history, and its final episode was the most-watched television broadcast in U.S. history from 1983 to 2010.
“I’m not sure we ever knew what impact it had,” he said of his fellow cast members, who were unaware at the time that the series would become one of the most popular of all time.
Memories: He shared that when people ask him about M*A*S*H, he “feels gratitude that what we did all those years ago is still on people’s minds” in a new interview with People; (L-R) Larry Linville, Loretta Swit, Alda, Mclean Stevenson, Wayne Rogers, William Christopher, Gary Burghoff, Jamie Farr
“It took us a while to figure it out and we were staying near the bottom of the ratings for the first season,” he revealed. By the time that huge audience watched the final episode, we were pretty shocked.”
Alda – who revealed in 2018 that he has Parkinson’s disease – shared that playing Hawkeye didn’t come naturally to him at first: “I wasn’t convinced I could be this guy who drank too much, hit on women and something of a smartass.’
However, on the first day on set, after an impromptu impromptu hug with a nurse during a scene, he finally felt like he could do the character justice.
Impact: “I’m not sure we ever knew what impact it had,” he said of the cast, who were unaware that the series would become one of the most popular of all time
‘When I heard, ‘Action!’ I stepped onto the property and saw a nurse approaching me. I had never seen her before, but I immediately decided that she and Hawkeye were in a relationship and gave her a little hug. She played along, we exchanged a smile and continued on our way. I had a little extra spring in my step. ‘Okay,’ I thought. “I am him.”‘
Elsewhere in the interview, he recalled that fame didn’t knock on his door overnight when he shared a funny anecdote from after the show’s first episode aired.
“Everyone warned me that after the first episode aired, I had to get used to suddenly becoming famous,” he said, recalling stopping at the entrance to the studio where the guard didn’t recognize him.
Concerned: Alda said playing Hawkeye didn’t come naturally to him: ‘I wasn’t convinced I could be this guy who drank too much, hit on women and was a smart idiot’, but that after his first successful day on set he thought ‘okay, i’m him’; In the picture with Burghoff
Alda said the guard didn’t know his name and even accidentally called him “Alan Ogre” – a nickname his costar Loretta Swit uses to this day.
He also shared his thoughts on why audiences were so attuned to the show, saying they may have picked up on the cast’knew that real people had experienced these kinds of events and that we tried to respect that.’
In September Alda teamed up with costar Mike Farrell — who played Captain BJ Hunnicutt — to celebrate the show’s 50th anniversary with a Twitter photo.
Fiftieth Anniversary: Alda and Mike Farrell teamed up last month to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the dark war comedy that premiered on CBS on September 17, 1972
Fan Favorites: Farrell, seen in November 2019, and Alda, seen in January 2020, played Korean War bunkmates and surgeons on the CBS series
Mike Farrell and I toast today to the 50th anniversary of the show that changed our lives – and our brilliant friends who made it what it was. MASH was a great gift to us,” Alda captioned his approximately 324,000 followers.
Alda and Farrell in the photo were beaming as they stood side by side with stemmed glasses filled with red wine.
The ensemble cast originally included Alda and the late Wayne Rogers, who died in 2015 at age 82, as surgeons Hawkeye and “Trapper” John McIntyre at the “4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital” in Uijeongbu, South Korea, during the Korean War. .
Highly Popular: M*A*S*H aired 11 seasons on CBS from September 1972 to February 28, 1983, becoming one of the highest-rated shows in American television history; Alda, Rogers and Swit, shown in a 1972 still
The finale titled “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen” remains the most watched finale of a TV series and the most watched episode of a scripted series.
The show was honored with a Peabody Award in 1975.
In addition to portraying Hawkeye, Alda also played a senator who became president on The West Wing and he also hosted Scientific American Frontiers on PBS.
Original Ensemble: The show’s final episode was the most-watched television broadcast in U.S. history from 1983 to 2010; Alda pictured with Linville and Rogers in a 1972 still