Wayne Rogers M*A*S*H Star Dead at 82

Wayne Rogers, who portrayed wisecracking Army surgeon “Trapper John” McIntyre in the first three seasons of TV’s “M*A*S*H”, died Thursday, his publicist Rona Menashe told Reuters.

He also had a recurring role in the Angela Lansbury drama Murder She Wrote and was awarded a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame in 2005.

Rogers again played a doctor on a CBS comedy adapted from a movie in “House Calls”, which ran from 1979-82. In addition, as former “M*A*S*H” writer Ken Levine notes, Rogers was “frustrated”, as Trapper John and Hawkeye were supposed to be equals, but Hawkeye proved more popular with the public. Other actors who starred in the acclaimed movie were Alec Baldwin, James Woods and Whoopi Goldberg. In 1988 and 1990 he appeared as an expert witness before the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee to speak in favour of maintaining the Glass-Steagall banking laws of the 1930s. But Rogers became frustrated as the plots began to give more attention to the increasingly popular Alda at his character’s expense.

He co-starred opposite Robert Bray in TV Western “Stagecoach West” and made appearances on numerous shows including “Gunsmoke”, “The F.B.I.”, “Cannon” and “Barnaby Jones” before his career-defining role in “M.A.S.H”.

He is survived by his wife, Amy, a son, a daughter and four grandchildren.

Some of his ventures extended to Tallahassee. He also became convenience store chain Stop-N-Save’s CEO, and chairman of Kleinfeld Bridal, which is one of the world’s largest vendors of wedding dresses.

Rogers continued to act after leaving M*A*S*H. “You will be missed in this life”. The venture was successful, and he held on to the building for 15 or 20 years.