‘M*A*S*H’ Alum Gary Burghoff Explains Why He Had to Reshoot His Last Scene

Actor Gary Burghoff said goodbye to M*A*S*H twice, revealing in a new TV special that he asked to reshoot his final scene as the hit CBS show’s Cpl. Walter “Radar” O’Reilly.

At the end of Season 8’s “Good-Bye Radar: Part 2,” which aired on October 15, 1979, the arrival of wounded interrupts Radar’s farewell party, meaning the character never gets a meaningful goodbye with friend Hawkeye (Alan Alda).

And Burghoff reflects on his departure from the show in the special M*A*S*H: The Comedy That Changed Television, airing Fox on Monday, January 1, at 8/7c.

“I said to myself, ‘What a wonderful moment, I can cry my eyes out, and I can do this wonderful dramatic moment, I can just completely fall apart,’” Burghoff says in an excerpt shared by Entertainment Weekly. “And the director said, ‘If I were you, I would fight the tears.’ And I said, ‘No, no. Just let me do it, OK?’”

But Burghoff soon realized the error of his ways. “The next day, in dailies, I look at the screen, and it’s awful. I mean, it is just terrible,” he says. “The director was right, I was wrong. … I turned to Burt [Metcalfe, executive producer]. ‘Please, can I do this again?’ And he said, ‘Yes, you may.’”

The actor, now 80, also discusses why he left M*A*S*H, saying it’s a question people have been asking him for 30 years. “My life at that time, it was a beautiful picture that was all crooked, and I had to step back, big time, in order to grow as a human being,” he said.

Related

'M*A*S*H' Star Mike Farrell Reflects on Show's Impact Ahead of Reunion Special

“Part of my stepping back, unfortunately, included M*A*S*H. I didn’t leave the show; my contract expired. You know, I had a seven-year contract. I just didn’t renegotiate because I was stepping back from everything.”

In a 2006 radio interview, Burghoff said that he was “not available” to his children while filming M*A*S*H, and that even when he wasn’t on set, his fame had an impact on his family life. “Family, to me, became the most important thing,” he explained at the time.

M*A*S*H: The Comedy That Changed Television, Monday, January 1, 8/7c, Fox

From TV Guide Magazine

Crime, Comedy & Convenience Stores: Unwrapping Hulu's 'Deli Boys' With the Cast

Cupcakes, corndogs…and cocaine?! Two brothers find themselves in a hilarious pickle when they inherit an unseemly bodega biz in Hulu’s new comedy Deli Boys. Find out how The Sopranos and Real Housewives of Orange County influenced the cast. Read the story now on TV Insider.