Monster M*A*S*H
Advertisement

Watching episode after episode of M*A*S*H, we very often come across a nurse whose face looks familiar and we feel we ought to recognize her. Perhaps she was credited in a previous episode and is now appearing as an uncredited extra? Or perhaps it is a face we see on several episodes and it would just be nice to know who she is. At other times, we see a name listed in the credits but can't figure out where in the episode this person appears. This page serves as the repository for all these cases. Post their images and your best guess, supporting evidence and research on the main page and use the talk page for discussion.

Season 1[]

Yankee Doodle Doctor[]

In "Yankee Doodle Doctor" Lieutenant Duane William Bricker is seen in the mess tent with a striking red headed nurse. This could also be the same red headed nurse in Divided We Stand and The Consultant below.

Bricker with unidentified nurse-yankee doodle doctor
Bricker with unidentified nurse 2-yankee doodle doctor

Season 2[]

Divided We Stand[]

In "Divided We Stand", there is a long, lingering shot of this unidentified nurse talking with a corpsman while standing outside the Ladies Shower tent. When they go off camera, we see Frank Burns coming out. She has red hair and given her height, the best guess right now would be Lieutenant Peters, played by Mary Peters.

Unknown nurse-divided we stand

This unknown nurse outside the shower tent gets a lot of screen time.

Season 3[]

There Is Nothing Like a Nurse[]

"There is Nothing Like a Nurse" contains one of the big mysteries of the M*A*S*H TV series: who played Lieutenant Janet Baker? Despite the number of lines given to the character, and the central role in one of the plotlines, the character is, strangely enough, uncredited. Unfortunately, the character is only seen behind a surgical mask, and this makes identification even more difficult.

Some internet resources have speculated that the character might have been played by Bobbie Mitchell as she was the most recent actress who played the generic Lieutenant Baker character. However this is not possible. Bobbie Mitchell plays Nurse Able in this same episode. Besides, the voices/accents are not the same and the eyebrows look different as well.

A look at the script or call sheets for the episode might yield some answers. In the meantime we have to settle for a best guess based on her eyebrows and voice.

Janet Baker 2-Nothing like a nurse

A better view, especially of Janet Baker's eyebrows. Note the thin eyebrows and blue(?) eyes.

The Consultant[]

"The Consultant" features a number of uncredited and unidentified nurses who look very familiar. One of them even has a speaking role - she is in the scrub while Hawkeye and Trapper are scrubbing for the operation. Trapper asks Radar to find out which nurse he has a date with that night and tell her he can't make it. The nurse helping Trapper take his coat off quips: "It was me."

Unidentified nurse-the consultant

This is the unidentified nurse who has a small speaking role talking to Trapper in the scrub room. Looks like she is blonde. Sheila Lauritsen? A bit early because she doesn't appear regularly until Season 5, but it might also be Enid Kent (see Nurse Bigelow).

After surgery-the consultant

Possibly another view of Trapper's date. She is with Gwen Farrell just after the operation.

Closeup-surgery-the consultant

A close up view of Borelli and others watching the arterial graft operation. The nurse to the left of Borelli looks very familiar. Trapper's mystery nurse could be the one at the back, right of Henry.

Red head nurse-the consultant

The red headed nurse in the background talking to the corpsman also looks very familiar. Same one as the nurse talking to the corpsman in front of the shower tent in Divided We Stand above?

Season 4[]

The Novocaine Mutiny[]

In the Novocaine Mutiny, the nurse assisting Frank in the O.R. (at least in Frank's version of the events) has a great number of lines but is uncredited. Frank refers to her as Nurse Johnson but she is definitely not the same person as Nurse Erica Johnson (played by Joan Van Ark ) in Season 2 Radar's Report. In the Novocaine Mutiny, this Nurse Johnson is depicted as being very supportive of Frank, even going so far as tell Frank: "Thank you for being you". We only ever see her behind a surgical mask and she is in soft focus as if to suggest that this is part of Frank's fantasy about what happened in the O.R.

Later there is another uncredited nurse in Hawkeye's version of events who tells Frank "in your ear" and who later knocks Frank out with the door. Many internet resources attribute this uncredited nurse as Patricia Stevens. Compare the images below with a confirmed one of her. The eyebrows look similar enough? So if this second nurse is Patricia Stevens, then the first unknown nurse could be her as well.

Unidentified-1-novocaine mutiny

Nurse Johnson with Frank.

Unidentified-2-novocaine mutiny

Nurse Johnson. This photo gives a good view of her eyebrows which should help identify her.

Probable Pat Stevens-Novocaine

This is another uncredited nurse who shows up in Hawkeye's version of events. Many internet resources say this is Patricia Stevens. Compare her eyebrows with the images below and above.

Stevens-Baker-Your hit parade

Patricia Stevens. This is one of the best foreground shots we have of her. Compare with the images above. This shot is from "Your Hit Parade".

Season 5[]

38 Across[]

In "38 Across" B.J. addresses this nurse as "Baker" and asks her to take an X-ray of Klinger. At a guess, it is possible Lynne Marie Stewart - she played Lieutenant Baker a few times in Season 5 and has short hair just like this nurse.

Unidentified Baker 1-38 across

The unidentified Baker helping Klinger to the X-ray.

Unidentified Baker 2-38 across

A full face shot, although slightly blurred because she is moving very fast. Baker has just handed the X-ray to Admiral Cox and is turning away.

Unidentified Baker 3-38 across

Another view of her - this time helping injured Chinese soldier Soo Ling.

Season 6[]

Tea and Empathy[]

"Tea and Empathy" has a whopping three unidentified nurses, all of whom have brief lines like "Yes, doctor."

Unknown 1-Tea and empathy

Quite a lot of foreground screentime for this unidentified nurse. She is shown taking the temperature of a patient and telling Hawkeye the temperature is 102.

Unknown2-Tea and empathy

With no penicillin, Hawkeye tells this unidentified nurse to keep sponging the patient and continue I.V. She responds with "Yes, Doctor."

Unknown Baker-Tea and empathy

B.J. calls this unidentified nurse "Baker" and asks her to keep an eye on the patient Johnson.

Advertisement