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The truth about Gary Burghoff
Sources close to the subject hint at troubled times.
The actors on our screens are not the characters they portray. This is a hard lesson to learn for many who attach feelings to the faces on their TV. It's easy to conflate people with the roles they play week after week right there in our living rooms. After all, it's human nature to identify traits with the faces that embody them.
However, as history has shown again and again, there's often a disconnect between what we love and what we find out later on.
Radar O'Reilly was beloved by millions. As the 4077th's Company Clerk, Radar was M*A*S*H's cuddliest, most gentle soldier, and was at the heart of a lot of the show's most poignant episodes. Radar's naivety contrasted perfectly with the rest of the characters' jadedness. His was an innocence to be protected at all costs from the cynical effects of war.
Gary Burghoff, the actor who played Radar, left the series with the two-part episode "Goodbye Radar." The show went on without Burghoff, as it had when other principals exited before him.
In the years that followed, the show progressed in Radar's absence before concluding with the momentous "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen." As the excitement around the finale grew, coverage of the show reached a fever pitch. M*A*S*H writer Burt Prelusky published an essay in TV Guide titled "So Long, 4077th: The Troops Scatter, but the Memories Linger." In it, Prelusky hinted at some of the lingering feelings regarding Burghoff on the M*A*S*H set.
"Although nobody wanted to be quoted for the record, the feelings about Gary Burghoff's leaving were fairly unanimous: loved Radar, hated Burghoff," Prelusky wrote.
The writer included a quote from one of the show's actors who wished to remain anonymous.
"As summed up by one of the principals: 'Gary had personality problems. He always felt there was a conspiracy against him. He was rude to everyone, but if anyone ever said anything back to him, he'd throw a tantrum. He had a particularly heated relationship with Alan Alda. Once, Mike Farrell told him that his problem was that he could dish it out but he couldn't take it, and Gary said, "And I'm getting real sick and tired of dishing it out." The poor guy didn't even realize what he'd said.'"
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