The Only Actors Still Alive From The Cast Of M*A*S*H

You'd be hard-pressed to find a more culturally impactful piece of 1970s media than the TV series "M*A*S*H." Almost 40 years since it went off the air, it remains one of the highest-rated, most-awarded American shows ever produced, with eleven acclaimed seasons airing on CBS from 1972 to 1983 and over 100 Emmy nominations. "M*A*S*H" is a series that defined an era of television, balancing smart comedy with heavy, sometimes politicized storylines. In its depiction of the Korean War, "M*A*S*H" spoke out subversively against America's military presence in Vietnam, and while some of the show's content feels a bit dated by modern standards, it broke progressive ground in its day by pushing the boundaries of what comedies — and TV shows at large — were capable of.

For all of its smart writing and direction, however, "M*A*S*H" may have flown under the radar if it weren't for the show's stellar ensemble cast. The series saw a lot of changeover in its eleven years, with popular characters frequently leaving and being replaced by new faces. And yet, while the tone of the show oscillated in its balance of drama and comedy, each season and era of "M*A*S*H" delivered its own great character pairings, pushing the established stars to new places and keeping the whole series feeling fresh.

Many of the great talents who starred in "M*A*S*H" have passed away in the years since it ended, but a number of them are still with us, many remaining active in the entertainment industry. Here are what these "M*A*S*H" icons are doing nowadays.

Another of the four stars to make it through all eleven seasons of "M*A*S*H," Loretta Swit played head nurse Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan on the show. She won two Emmy Awards for her performance and appeared in nearly every episode, placing second only to Alda in total credits. Although Houlihan's history as a self-proclaimed "army brat" made her more of an antagonist in the show's early seasons, Swit carried through a wide range of compelling emotional arcs by the time "M*A*S*H" concluded.

After the series ended, Swit continued to work in television, including some voiceover work in shows like "Batman: The Animated Series" and "Cow and Chicken." Now 84 years old, Swit isn't terribly active in the entertainment industry, but she still has an impressive collection of roles to her name. She's remained close with many of her former "M*A*S*H" co-stars over the years, especially Alda and the late, great Harry Morgan, who played Colonel Sherman T. Potter in the show's final seasons. In addition to her acting work, Swit has published books on needlepoint and watercolor painting, and she's a seasoned activist in the animal rights field. In 1989, Swit received a well-deserved star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The first "Hot Lips," Sally Kellerman (who originated the role in the classic 1970 Robert Altman film the series would be based on), died in 2022. 

When Wayne Rogers left "M*A*S*H" between its third and fourth seasons and took his "Trapper" John McIntyre character with him, it would have been fair for fans to have some trepidation about his replacement. McLean Stevenson's Henry Blake character, the original commanding officer of the 4077th, was also written out of the show at the end of Season 3, leaving multiple sets of big shoes to fill. Fortunately, they were filled expertly by Harry Morgan as the new commanding officer and Mike Farrell as Hawkeye's new counterpart, Captain B. J. Hunnicutt.

Farrell is as big a name behind the scenes in Hollywood as he is on the screen, having worked as a writer, director, producer, and as vice president of the Screen Actors Guild for several years in the early 2000s. His most notable efforts, however, may be in the field of activism, where Farrell has long been an advocate for various causes including global human rights, animal rights, and the abolition of the death penalty. The 84-year-old has appeared on screen as recently as 2019, when he played a judge on "NCIS," and he's appeared in other recent shows like "Supernatural" and "American Crime Story." His performance as B. J. was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1980, but he lost to his own co-star, Harry Morgan.

Another fan-favorite "M*A*S*H" supporting character with a long career on the show was Private Igor Straminsky, played (most of the time) by Jeff Maxwell. Igor and Rizzo filled similar roles on the show, frequently as comic stooges tied to different parts of the camp's operations. For Rizzo, that was the motor pool. For Igor, it was the mess tent, where he doled out the food that frequently became a target of comedy and ridicule from the main cast. Years after the show ended, Maxwell actually published his own cookbook inspired by the series, titled "Secrets of the M*A*S*H Mess: The Lost Recipes of Private Igor." He continued working in television in the years following "M*A*S*H," even hosting the game show "Shopper's Casino" in the late '80s.

Today, Maxwell spends his professional time discussing the show that made him famous on the podcast "M*A*S*H Matters," which he co-hosts with writer Ryan Patrick. The show features all manner of thematic deep-dives, behind-the-scenes content, and interviews with different creatives who worked on "M*A*S*H."

Another one of the main recurring nurse characters on "M*A*S*H" was Lieutenant Ginger Bayliss, played by Odessa Cleveland. One of the show's only prominent Black characters (diversity was admittedly and regrettably never the show's strong suit), Nurse Bayliss appears in 26 episodes across the show's first four seasons. She's one of the camp's most capable nurses and is shown multiple times to be a friend of Hawkeye and Trapper.

Cleveland was a prolific TV actor in the 1970s and '80s, appearing in other shows like "Simon & Simon," "Something for Joey," and "Sanford and Son." She also had a guest appearance on the "M*A*S*H" spinoff series "Trapper John, M.D." as a nurse. Since that series was technically a spinoff of the film version of "M*A*S*H" and starred Pernell Roberts in the lead role instead of Wayne Rogers, it's not officially the same continuity. Still, for fans of the early seasons of "M*A*S*H," it's fun to know that Cleveland returned to the franchise later in her career.