Alan Alda Shares the One Thing Fans Say About His “M*A*S*H ”Role That Made Him Realize He 'Lived Usefully'
Alan Alda Shares the One Thing Fans Say About His “M*A*S*H ”Role That Made Him Realize He 'Lived Usefully'
Meredith Wilshere, Tabitha ParentSun, May 31, 2026 at 10:58 AM UTC
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Alan Alda in 'M*A*S*H' in 1975
Credit: CBS Photo Archive/Getty
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Alan Alda reflected on his M*A*S*H role during a conversation about Roger Rosenblatt's book More Rules for Aging
Alda shared that fans often tell him his portrayal of Hawkeye Pierce inspired them to become doctors
M*A*S*H remains iconic, with its finale still holding the record as the most-watched TV episode
Alan Alda knows his role on M*A*S*H made a difference in the lives of the show's dedicated viewers.
Joining Jo Behar and Roger Rosenblatt on May 21 for a conversation around Rosenblatt's new book More Rules for Aging, the actor, 90, reflected on his role as Captain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, M.D., a U.S. Army Reserve Captain and surgeon in the fictional 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War.
Alda said one of the things that stood out to him in the book was the line “Live usefully" — and he shared his personal experience with that mantra through his M*A*S*H role.
Alan Alda in 'M*A*S*H' in 1975
Credit: CBS Photo Archive/Getty
“You talk about making a contribution, and it makes you feel good. It's not just giving, it's getting," he said at the 92NY event.
"One of the ways that I noticed that I must have lived usefully is people — this is really true — people come up to me on the street and they say, 'After seeing you play a doctor on M*A*S*H, that made me want to become a doctor,'" he shared. "And they became doctors because not a single one of them says they wanted to become an actor. But it was sort of me."
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Along with Alda, M*A*S*H starred Loretta Swit as Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan, Jamie Farr as Maxwell Q. Klinger and William Christopher as Father John Patrick Francis Mulcahy. The series ran for 11 seasons, from 1972 to 1983, and concluded with a two-and-a-half-hour finale that drew more than 100 million viewers, making it the most-watched TV finale.
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Alan Alda in 2023
Credit: Bruce Glikas/WireImage
When reflecting on the 50th anniversary of the show in 2022, the Golden Globe winner told PEOPLE, "I'm not sure we ever knew what kind of impact it was having.”
“It took a while to catch on, lingering near the bottom of the ratings for the first season. We got used to coming to work, doing the best shows we could and not worrying about the numbers," Alda shared. "By the time that huge audience watched the last episode, we were kind of shocked."
Alda said that, even decades later, when someone mentions M*A*S*H, he still has“gratitude that what we did all those years ago is still on people's minds.”
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
