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Wayne Rogers, Trapper John On 'M.A.S.H.', Dies At 82

In 2005, Wayne Rogers was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles.
Todd Williamson
/
FilmMagic
In 2005, Wayne Rogers was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles.

For three seasons on the CBS hit show M.A.S.H., Wayne Rogers played Army surgeon "Trapper" John McIntyre alongside Alan Alda's character, Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce.

Publicist Rona Menashe confirmed to wire services that Rogers died Thursday in Los Angeles of complications from pneumonia. He was 82.

M.A.S.H., the popular Korean War television series about a mobile Army surgical hospital, debuted in 1972 and ran for 11 seasons. It was modeled after Robert Altman's 1970 hit movie by the same name. In the film, Elliott Gould played the Trapper John character and Donald Sutherland was Hawkeye.

After 74 episodes, Rogers left television's M.A.S.H. over a contract dispute.

He was replaced on the show by Mike Farrell, who played B.J. Hunnicut, Hawkeye's new tent mate.

The show ran until 1983. Reuters quotes Rogers as saying that if he had known the show was going to last that long, he might have "kept my mouth shut and stayed put."

After M.A.S.H., Rogers became a successful businessman, founding an investment strategy firm and a production company. He also was a financial commentator for Fox News Channel.

Rogers was an Alabama native and graduated from Princeton University with a degree in history.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Doreen McCallister
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