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Even Larry Linville hated Frank Burns
Linville had what it took to portray a real louse.
Few things in media are more satisfying than a good bad guy. These are the characters we love to hate. The real heels keep us invested. Sure, ultimately, we want the hero to win. But heroes are nothing without something to fight against. That's why villains are just so entertaining. Who would Batman be without the Joker? He'd be a lot less interesting, we can tell you that much.
On M*A*S*H, the 4077th had few more dastardly than that crabby Maj. Frank Burns. He drove everyone nuts. Somebody had to be the butt of Hawkeye's jokes, and Burns fit the bill to a tee, with his uptight jobsworth attitude.
As it turns out, Burns' brothers-in-arms weren't alone in disliking the character. Larry Linville, the guy who played him, wasn't a fan of Frank Burns either!
"Frank is the type of character I personally despise," Linville told The Shreveport Journal in 1970.
"It's a matter of ego but I think I'm doing a service by delineating this type of person. You know, so you'll be able to recognize him."
If Linville taught us how to identify a Burns type, Alan Alda showed us how to put him in his place.
"I think Frank's worst side is his hypocrisy," Linville continued. "He's almost human but not quite. He has all the elements— he's intelligent because after all he did get through med school, and he does have sensitivity. But somewhere it all went wrong. I think there are some interesting references to his mother from time to time. Anyway, he's almost a person."
That kind of pathos isn't easy to portray. Linville should be commended for aptly embodying such an unlikeable character. After all, he must've been doing something right... We all hate Frank Burns!
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Also, there a book about the show written by the daughter of one of the creators with an interview of Linville. In that one he was very supportive of the character, probably because he was tired of everybody putting him down. He said he portrayed him as someone who just couldn’t handle the situation he was in and tried dealing with it the best he could. “Pathos” was the word he used.
