| Wayne Rogers | |
|---|---|
 Wayne Rogers, shown here at the 2011 Writers' Gould Awards, played Trapper John McIntyre on the M*A*S*H TV series. | |
| Personal Information | |
| Gender: | Male |
| Nationality | American |
| Ethnicity | Caucasian/White |
| Height | 6'3" |
| Weight | 195 lbs. |
| Nickname | N/A |
| Born: | April 7, 1933 |
| Birthplace | Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. |
| Died: | December 31, 2015 (aged 82) |
| Deathplace | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation/ Career: |
Actor/Producer Businessman/Investor TV personality |
| Spouse(s): | Mitzi McWhorter, 1960-1983 Amy Hirsh, 1988-present |
| Domestic partner(s): | N/A |
| Related to: | 1 daughter, 1 son |
| Resides in: | Miami, Florida, U.S. |
| Character information | |
| Appeared on/in: | M*A*S*H TV series |
| Episodes appeared in: | 72 episodes, Seasons 1-3 |
| Character(s) played: | Trapper John McIntyre |
Wayne Rogers (born William Wayne McMillan Rogers III April 7, 1933 - December 31, 2015) was an American film and television actor, best known for playing the role of Capt. Trapper John McIntyre on M*A*S*H, as well as Dr. Charley Michaels in the hit 1979-1982 CBS-TV series House Calls. He was a regular panel member on the Fox News Channel stock investment television program Cashin' In, as a result of having built a highly successful and lucrative second career as an investor, investment strategist and advisor, and money manager.
Life and early career[]
The son of a Rhodes Scholar, Rogers was born in Birmingham, Alabama. He attended Ramsay High School in Birmingham and is a graduate of The Webb School in Bell Buckle, Tennessee. He later graduated from Princeton University with a history degree in 1954, where he was a member of the Princeton Triangle Club, the Eating Club Tiger Inn, and served in the U.S. Navy before becoming an actor.
Prior to the role of 'Trapper John', Rogers appeared on television in various roles in both dramas and sitcoms such as The Invaders, The F.B.I., Gunsmoke, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., The Fugitive, and had a small supporting role in the 1967 movie Cool Hand Luke. He had also been a co-star with Robert Bray and Richard Eyer in the western series Stagecoach West, a Four Star Television production on ABC from 1960–1961. In 1959 he played Slim Davis on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow. Rogers also played a role in Odds Against Tomorrow which was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 1960 as Best Film Promoting International Understanding.
M*A*S*H (1972–1975)[]
When Rogers was approached for M*A*S*H, he planned to audition as Hawkeye Pierce. However, he found the character too cynical and asked to screen test as 'Trapper John,' whose outlook was brighter. Rogers was told that Trapper and Hawkeye would have equal importance as characters. This changed after Alan Alda, whose acting career and résumé up to that point had outshone that of Rogers, was cast as Hawkeye, and proved to be more popular with the audience. Rogers did, however, still enjoy working with Alda and the rest of cast as a whole (Alda and Rogers quickly became close friends), but eventually chafed that the writers were devoting the show's best humorous and dramatic moments to Alda. When the writers took the liberty of making Hawkeye a thoracic surgeon in the episode "Dear Dad" (December 17, 1972) even though Trapper was the unit's only thoracic surgeon in the movie and the novel, Rogers felt Trapper was stripped of his credentials.
On the M*A*S*H 30th Anniversary Reunion Special aired by Fox-TV in 2002, Rogers once spoke on the differences between the "Hawkeye" and "Trapper" characters, "Alan (Alda) and I both used to discuss ways on how to distinguish the differences between the two characters as to where there would be a variance... my character (Trapper John McIntyre) was a little more impulsive (than Hawkeye)".
Rogers considerably reduced his Alabama accent for the character of Trapper. He succeeded Elliott Gould, who had played the character in the Robert Altman movie MASH, and was himself succeeded by Pernell Roberts on the M*A*S*H spin-off Trapper John, M.D..
On December 31, 2015, Rogers died of complications due to pneumonia.
External links[]
- Wayne Rogers article at Wikipedia
- Wayne Rogers at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
- Wayne Rogers at TriviaTribute.com
