How McLean Stevenson Felt About M*A*S*H After He Left

"M*A*S*H" ranked No. 44 on Looper's list of the greatest TV shows of all time, with the drama and antics at the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital entertaining CBS audiences from 1972 through 1983. The unit's commander for the show's first three seasons was Lt. Col. Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson), an affable midwesterner who wore a well-used fly fishing hat in lieu of any official military headwear. The Season 3 finale included an emotional goodbye with surgeons and drinking buddies Hawkeye Pierce (Alan Alda) and Trapper John McIntyre (Wayne Rogers), followed by Blake's death in a helicopter crash.

"M*A*S*H" was more popular after Stevenson's departure — with hardcase career Army guy Col. Sherman Potter (Harry Morgan) taking over as commanding officer — and the series finale's viewership of 106 million made it the most-watched episode of scripted TV ever. But in 1991, Stevenson told the Los Angeles Times the real reason he left "M*A*S*H" 16 years earlier. "I left the show because of money," he explained. "Every time CBS gave me an offer, NBC would double it. But when I left the show, the mistake was not in leaving, the mistake was that I thought everybody in America loved McLean Stevenson. That was not the case. Everybody loved Henry Blake."

McLean Stevenson explained to the Los Angeles Times that he based Henry Blake on his father, a physician in rural central Ilinois. "My father was a country doctor and he was 80 years old when he passed away," he revealed. "I don't think my dad every charged more than $1 for a house call and he couldn't balance his checkbook. He was probably the world's worst businessman." Outraged fans deluged CBS with angry letters after Blake was killed off, reinforcing Stevenson's point about the character's popularity.

Harry Morgan's Sherman Potter was less of a buddy to Hawkeye and Trapper than his predecessor, and Morgan's 1980 Emmy win and seven nominations for playing Potter surpassed Stevenson's four Emmy nominations and one Golden Globe win as Blake. The death of Blake didn't mean the end of Stevenson's acting career, although his 72 episodes on "M*A*S*H" remain the unquestioned highlight of his career. 

"The McLean Stevenson Show" lasted just 12 episodes in 1976 and 1977, and as he admitted to the Times, "If you go and do 'The McLean Stevenson Show,' nobody cares about McLean Stevenson." He popped up on TV throughout the '80s, appearing on "The Love Boat" and "The Golden Girls," while also starring in the short-lived "Dirty Dancing" series and guest-hosting "The Tonight Show" nearly 60 times. Stevenson's last credited role was on a 1993 episode of "Tales of the City," and he died three years later of a heart attack at age 68. He and Morgan are among the "M*A*S*H" actors who have died in the years since the show aired, but you can buy all 11 seasons of "M*A*S*H" on DVD from Amazon to appreciate their work.