Best remembered as glorious little stinker Frank Burns in M*A*S*H, Larry Linville is the man we love to hate. In a strange sort of irony, Linville did such a superb job playing the role of Major Burns that the animosity viewers may have felt toward the character may have translated into real life.

In an interview with The Chicago Tribune, Linville's former M*A*S*H costar, Harry Morgan, praised Linville's loveably annoying performance in the hit series.

"You know Linville, who was absolutely great, never even got nominated for an Emmy?" Morgan said. "I think he left the show (after five seasons) because he got tired of playing such a perfect jerk."

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While Linville was never recognized for his acting abilities, he should also be noted for his work off-screen as well. So faithful to the cast was the crew of M*A*S*H that actors were often encouraged to share their own ideas about characters and plot developments. In fact, according to an interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer, Linville had a hand in one of the most popular M*A*S*H episodes of the entire series.

In its first season, M*A*S*H premiered the episode "Sometimes You Hear the Bullet" In it, Hawkeye is forced to watch as his childhood friend passes away before his very eyes on the operating table. "He ends up shot to bits and dies on Hawkeye's operating table," Linville said.

According to the actor, the original script called for Hawkeye to immediately leave the room in tears, overcome with emotion. However, Linville changed the script to keep Hawkeye in the scene, instead moving to another patient and only breaking down after the job is done.

It seems almost odd to think that a man so thoughtful behind the scenes could have played such a foul character, but it seemed to be by Linville's design. "I pulled out every box in my head marked nerd, moron, and slime," he said when describing his creation of Frank Burns. However, perhaps it was because Linville himself was a member of the cast that he was able to make such a strong directional choice — demonstrating that even when shattered and overwhelmed with emotion, the 4077th knows that people are depending on them and will continue to put their needs above their own.