Ever wonder who all those nurses were running in the M*A*S*H opening credits?

It pays to be the fastest.

The individual shots of the M*A*S*H opening credits are ingrained in our mind. Two helicopters fly over mountains. A battered military ambulance speeds past tents. Soldiers run behind camouflage netting. A pack of nurses sprints towards the camera — their dog tag flapping against their uniforms, their hands holding their floppy hats on their heads as the choppers whip up a wind. 

You've probably seen it countless times. At some point, you perhaps asked yourself — wait, who are those nurses exactly?

None of them are major characters. A couple of them show up in others episodes. One is only seen in this particular shot. For years, the identity of the frontrunner remained a mystery.

Let's take a look at their story. The moral of this story? It pays to be fast.

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1. …and they're off!

 

First, let's examine the shot itself and its origins. The clip seen in the credits is the second half of the full shot. The first half can only be found in the opening moments of the second season episode "Sticky Wicket." Hawkeye, Radar, Trapper and Ugly John play cards. Radar's acute senses detect incoming choppers. As the helicopters arrive, the medical staff races to help the arriving wounded. Here were see our five familiar women bursting out of the "Nurses" tent.

2. Gwen Farrell

 

Let's take a look at the women, working left to right. Gwen Farrell can be seen in at least a dozen episodes of M*A*S*H, playing nurses of various names — Wilson, Baker, Able, Gwen, Butler. Here she is in "Springtime," answering Radar's medical questions about diseases.

3. Kathy Denny Fradella

 

Next, we come to the fastest and most mysterious of the running nurses. Her identity perplexed fans for ages. In 1978, a viewer in San Diego wrote into the "TV Talkbalk" column of The Los Angeles Times. "Can you tell us who she is? My husband is quite taken with her," the M*A*S*H fanatic asked. The newspaper replied: "Even 20th Century-Fox, where the series is filmed, doesn’t know. That opening sequence was filmed seven years ago when the series began. The studio had an “extra call,” with the union supplying several extras for nonspeaking roles in backgrounds scenes. Several girls were picked for that opening scene and instructed to run toward the cameras. After they were paid, that’s all they did that day." Fortunately, the mystery nurse saw the piece. She revealed herself to be Kathy Denny Fradella of Van Nuys, California. She wrote back and explained, "[The producer] lined up about 20 girls and we literally raced for the job. I had run in high school, so I was more than eager to compete." She burst ahead of the other extras every take — take after take. It helps to run those sprints!

4. Marcia Gelman

 

Gelman is blocked from view by the faster nurses in most of the shot, but we can see her distinctive hat. That hat helps us spot the extra in a couple episodes. Here, we see her very, very briefly in "The Sniper," when Frank tries to settle down an antsy, worried tent full of medics under fire.

5. Sheila Lauritsen

 

Lauritsen, second from the right, seems to be giving it her all in that sprint. She bites her lower lip and pumps her arms frantically. Perhaps that effort paid off, as the actress found the most screentime throughout the first two seasons. She pops up quite often as "Nurse Sheila." She particularly gets a lot of screen time hanging on the arm of Hawkeye at the bar during "Henry in Love." Blake briefly introduces her as either "Lt. Stern" or "Lt. Sterner." She also helps celebrate Frank's birthday in another episode.

6. Lori Noel

 

Finally, on the far right, we have Lori Noel. She was merely an extra huffing it for that one shot, holding on to her hat. Years later, she recalled the experience: "The piece of film in the credits was shot before the first program aired. The director picked several of us to run up the hill towards the fictional helicopter. I ran as hard as I could and was still nearly last. We had to shoot this scene five or six times. None of us received residuals — who knew it would still be aired after all these years." She did learn some valuable skills from the gig. M*A*S*H brought in a technical advisor to demonstrate using surgery tools. Noel was a natural, which earned her work passing instruments to surgeons on Marcus Welby, Emergecy! and The Bold Ones.

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10 Comments

tootsieg 17 months ago
Thanks MeTV for the good detective work. Nice to be able to place a name to the face.
AgingDisgracefully 17 months ago
I always assumed they were at full speed heading to the Foghat Ticket Release.
Who opened for Foghat? The Rockets? They did a cover of the Fleetwood Mac song "Oh Well" Which I like!
Oh Well, Part Two is a genuine All-Timer, whether you're a fool for the city or a friend of hallucination.
Or both.
Runeshaper 17 months ago
That was very informative. Thanks, MeTV! 😃
top_cat_james_1 17 months ago
What, no love for Gwen Farrell? Hubba-hubba says I.
Rob 17 months ago
In the first season there were a lot of extras in the background. The OR was full unidentified doctors and nurses and so were the mess tent scenes.
BenSobeleone Rob 17 months ago
In the first episode during the opening credits, you can see Bruno Kirby (Good Morning Viet Nam, City Slickers) throwing a football to Radar.
DebraAn 50 months ago
My husband and I have always thought that the best looking was Kathy (the woman leading the pack of running woman), but we were disappointed that we never saw her again. With so much interest from viewers you would think that Fox would have used her in at least one episode with a speaking part. I am sure they would have made ratings spike up, she is a beautiful woman. It is nice to at least know who this mystery woman is.
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