In a world increasingly filled with misinformation, it's important to get your facts straight from the source as often as possible. There's no telling how much the data could be spun as it's filtered through some secondary platform before it's presented to you. Everybody has an angle, so it's no surprise that agendas influence the news on its way to us.

It's a real gift, then, to get the info about a guy right from the guy's own mouth. Especially when the guy happens to be an actor... They're all so media-trained and PR-assisted that you're liable to get a company line in most interviews. But every once in a while, some kernel— some tiny nugget of truth— shines through the studio-mandated malarkey.

This was the case with a very interesting revelation Larry Linville made in a 1988 interview with The Hamilton Spectator. Later republished in 2021, the piece explained Linville's exit from M*A*S*H, where he played despised jobsworth Frank Burns. 

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Specifically, Linville told reporter Gary Smith why he left the show, putting to rest some decade-old rumors and setting the record straight.

"I guess I was tired of being the guy you loved to loathe," Linville said. "By then, my involvement with Major Frank Burns had run its course. It was time to move on. Did I miss it? Probably. But you have to exercise new acting chops, or you get stale."

So, that's it, then. It wasn't due to any infighting on the set. His amicable departure wasn't due to feeling upstaged or underutilized. Linville quit after five years on the acclaimed series. He was offered a contract extension in 1977, but declined to renew.

"There was no big farewell. I was there one episode and gone the next. Just like in real life, one day you're here, the next you're not."