There's an assumption that all actors must be stupid because, of course, it can't be possible for someone to be more than just a pretty face. Well, like most of the world's major issues, this one will have to be solved by Alan Alda. In Alda's memoir, Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: And Other Things I've Learned, the actor recalled the very tense memory of receiving surgery in Chile during the filming of his television series Scientific American Frontiers. After suffering from stomach pains for a prolonged period of time, Alda was taken to a local hospital. After the doctor inspected him, he was informed that it would be necessary for him to have surgery to relieve the pain. However, when explained the procedure, Alda found that it all sounded very familiar.

He wrote, "'Oh,' I said, 'You're going to do an end-to-end anastomosis.'" In response, the doctor expressed shock, and stated that Alda was correct before asking, 'How do you know that?' 

Alda responded, "I did many of them on M*A*S*H."

For eleven seasons, Alda acted as Surgeon Hawkeye Pierce, who performed life-saving operations on nearly every episode of M*A*S*H. Now, however, he found that he was the one on the operating table.

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M*A*S*HAlan Alda

Alan Alda briefly studied medicine years before he played surgeon Hawkeye Pierce in M*A*S*H

The actor explained, "It's true. I did them on extras and day players alike. And although all I operated on was a piece of foam rubber, I could picture exactly what I was supposed to be doing."

While this doesn't mean that Alda himself was a doctor by any means, his statement provided some much-needed relief. In an otherwise traumatic situation, the comment brought levity and laughter to the room. Alda wrote, "There was a short pause, and then he laughed. Through my haze, I smiled. My real illness, it seems, is my compulsion to amuse. Apparently, you can offer to disembowel me, but I'll still see if I can make you laugh."

Luckily, the surgery was a success, and Alda came out in good health.

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