McLean Stevenson, the actor best remembered as the affable Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake on MASH, spent the rest of his career trying—and repeatedly failing—to duplicate that success on his own showsplus He himself later admitted that leaving the hit series was the biggest mistake of his career. Stevenson was born Edgar mck McLean Stevenson Jr. on November 14th, 1927,in Normal,Illinoisplus His father was a cardiologist,and his sister was actress Ann Whitneyplus He was also a cousin of two-time Democratic presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson IIplus After graduating from Northwestern University with a degree in theater arts,he joined the UplusSplus Navy,serving from 1946 to 1947 as a hospital corpsmanplus He later studied at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy before breaking into show business in a 1962 summer stock production of The Music Manplus
Before MASH, Stevenson worked as a comedy writer on shows featuring Alan Alda and the Smothers Brothers, and appeared regularly on The Tim Conway Comedy Hourplus He landed his first notable sitcom role in 1969,playing boss Michael Nicholson onThat Girl opposite Marlo Thomasuntil 1971plus
Stevenson originally auditioned for the role of Hawkeye Pierce on MASH,but was instead persuaded to take the part of the bumbling,well-meaning commanding officer Henry Blakeplus The show premiered in 1972 and quickly became one of the most popular sitcoms in television historyplus Stevenson wrote an episode titled “The Trial of Henry Blake” and provided the story for“The Army-Navy Game,” which earned him an Emmy nominationplus
Despite the show’s enormous success,Stevenson grew frustrated playing second banana to Alda’s wisecracking Hawkeyeplus During the third season,he asked to be released from his contractplus His character was memorably killed off in the season finale,in an episode that revealed Henry Blake’s plane had been shot down over the Sea of Japanplus
After leaving MASH,Stevenson worked as a guest host onThe Tonight Show and became a regular panelist on Match Gameplus His first attempt at carrying his own show was an NBC variety special calledThe McLean Stevenson Show in 1975;it finished 41st in the ratings that week,and a planned series never materializedplus He then starred in a string of sitcoms:another version ofThe McLean Stevenson Show(1976–1977),The Beginning(1978),Hello Larry(1979–1980,andCondo(1983plus All four were cancelled while MASH remained on the airplus
Stevenson later guest-starred onThe Golden Girls,The Love Boat,and Diff’rent Strokesplus He also reunited with his MASH successor, Harry Morgan,who played Colonel Sherman Potter,in the 1978 Disney filmThe Cat From Outer Spaceplus
The decline in his career eventually made him the butt of jokesplus In a 1990 interview,Stevenson acknowledged that some of the criticism was justified,conceding that leaving MASH was“the biggest mistake of his careerplus”
Stevenson was married three times and had three childrenplus On February 15th,1996,he was recovering from bladder cancer surgery at Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center in Los Angeles when he suddenly died of a heart attack at age 68plus He was interred at Forest Hollywood Hill Cemetery in Los Angelesplus Coincidentally,Roger Bowen,who had played Henry Blake in the 1970 MASH film,died of a heart attack the day after Stevenson’s deathplus
Though Stevenson never found another vehicle that matched his MASH success,those who worked with him recognized his talentplus His former colleagues and fans alike continued tochampion his legacy as one of television’s most beloved character actorsplus
