McLean Stevenson, the actor best known as Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake on MASH, asked to be released from his contract during the show’s third season because he resented playing second fiddle to Alan Alda’s wisecracking Hawkeye Pierce. It was a decision he would later call the biggest mistake of his career. Stevenson was born Edgar McKinley “McLean” Stevenson Jr. on November 14th,1927,in Normal,Illinois.
His father was a cardiologist,and his sister was actress Ann Whitney. He was also a cousin of two-time presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson II. After high school,he joined the United States Navy from 1946 to 1947,s serving as a hospital corpsman. He later graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in theater arts,and won a scholarship to the American Musical and Dramatic Academy.
He began his show business career in a 1962 summer stock production of The Music Man,often playing likable,absent-minded characters. He also worked as a comedy writer,contributing to series such as That Was The Week That Was,in which Alan Alda appeared,and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,occasionally performing on both shows. He was also a regular on The Tim Conway Comedy Hour variety show on CBS. After a guest stint on That Girl,he was cast in the D Stay…
class=”google-internal-anchor”… sorry,an error occurred in that sentence,but the record indicates he played her boss Michael Nicholson from 1969 until 1971. Stevenson originally auditioned for the role of Hawkeye Pierce on MASH,but was persuaded instead to play Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake. The show premiered in 1972 and quickly became one of the most popular sitcoms in television history.
He wrote the episode”The Trial of Henry Blake”and provided the story for another,”The Army-Navy Game,”which earned him an Emmy nomination. Despite the success,however,Stevenson grew frustrated in his supporting role and requested release from his contract. His character was memorably killed off in the season three finale,in 1975. After leaving MASH,Stevenson occasionally served as guest host on The Tonight Show and became a regular panelist on Match Game.
His first attempt at his own show,an NBC variety special titled The McLean Stevenson Show,in 1975,finished 41st in the ratings that week,and planned series never materialized. He then starred in a series of sitcoms: The McLean Stevenson Show(1976–1977),whose title changed to The McLean Stevenson Show beginning In… the source transcript indicates confusion here;the record lists The McLean Stevenson Show(1976–1977),Beginning(1978),Hello Larry(1979–1980,which lasted two seasons,,and Condo(1983… u All four were cancelled while MASH was still on the air.
Despite the career setback,Stevenson continued guest starring on shows such as The Golden Girls,The Love Boat,and Diff’rent Strokes. He also appeared with Harry Morgan,who had succeeded him on MASH as Colonel Sherman Potter,in the 1978 Disney film The Cat From Outer Space. Stevenson acknowledged the criticism he received for leaving MASH about his career decline. In a 1990 comment,he conceded that some of the criticism was justified,and admitted that leaving the show was the biggest mistake of his career.
Stevenson was married three times and had three children. On February 15th,1996,he was recovering from bladder cancer surgery at the Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center in Los Angeles when he suddenly died of a heart attack. He was 68 years old. He is interred at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.
Coincidentally,Roger Bowen,who had played Henry Blake in the 1970 MASH film,died of a heart attack the day after Stevenson’s death. Stevenson was certainly talented,but the right writers and format for a solo sitcom success never came together for him. His legacy remains tied to Henry Blake,one of television’s most memorable characters,and to the MASH episode that killed him off,a moment still regarded as one of the most shocking exits in TV history.
