“M*A*S*H” is one of the most beloved sitcoms of all time, but it wouldn’t have ever been the same without star Alan Alda. While the show was ostensibly an ensemble series, Alda’s Captain Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce ended up being the central character and Alda took on a bigger role behind-the-scenes by writing and directing episodes. Alda’s influence really shaped “M*A*S*H,” pushing it to be the progressive, heartwarming, hilarious series that it was. While that irritated the heck out of the rather conservative-leaning author who wrote the original book that the series was loosely based on, it ended up making the show a lot better. Alda is pretty much beloved otherwise — even co-stars like Wayne Rogers and McLean Stevenson, who left the series because they felt like they were playing second fiddle to Alda’s Hawkeye, were generally complimentary about their charismatic co-star. There was one director on the series, however, who had some major frustrations with the actor.
In his autobiography “Please Don’t Shoot My Dog” (via MeTV), actor and director Jackie Cooper shared some stories about how he and Alda butted heads behind-the-scenes on “*M*A*S*H” – and while it’s recounted from the director’s perspective, Alda still comes out smelling like a rose.
Why Alda butted heads with the director
According to Cooper, he and Alda were originally supposed to work together on Cooper’s directorial debut, “Stand Up and Be Counted,” but Alda only agreed to star if there were some changes that didn’t end up being made. He left the project, but Cooper still had high hopes for their future professional relationship. When he got to working on “M*A*S*H,” however, he felt quite differently about Alda, writing:
“On the surface, he was the man I had expected — very conscientious, very serious about his work, thoroughly professional about being on time, with his lines learned. However, beneath that serene surface, things were different. […] Stevenson, [Gary] Burghoff, and Loretta Swit were terrors. So I asked Alda to intervene with them, for the good of the morale of the entire ensemble. After all, he was there every week and I wasn’t. He refused. If any problem arose, he’d stalk off to his dressing room and sit there until the clouds had blown over.”
At the time, Alda wasn’t yet directing any episodes and was just an actor on the show, so Cooper asking him to step into a leadership role is a little out of bounds. Alda was the only actor to appear in every single episode, so Cooper was right about him being around. Nevertheless, it wasn’t fair to try and get him to wrangle the other actors, especially when there were already possible resentments about his character getting more screentime.
How can anyone hate Alan Alda?
Besides the original book’s author and the director of the original “M*A*S*H” film, Robert Altman, it’s hard to think of anyone with a reason to hate Alda. He was largely responsible for the tone of the series because he was insistent that the show not use tired humor or resort to punching down, and it led to a series that mixed drama and comedy in equal measure. (Honestly, it feels so much like the prototype for the beloved hospital dramedy “Scrubs” that it’s eerie sometimes.) So, it’s not really a surprise that when Cooper commented on the ability of the cast to act comedically, Alda got a little defensive. Cooper said that he told the actors, “‘If the producers had only wanted a funny person, they would have hired a Carl Reiner. But they wanted good actors, so they hired you,'” thinking for some reason that this would make them like him more. Instead people were furious, because it was important on “M*A*S*H” to be both dramatic and funny, and they were insulted.
Cooper related that Alda came to him and dressed him down, telling the director that he had “no idea what kind of people we are,” defending himself and his co-workers. It sounds like Cooper really didn’t understand “M*A*S*H” and could have used a few lessons on leadership, but Alda comes out squeaky clean.
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