It’s been 50 years since the first episode of M*A*S*H aired on September 17, 1972. To commemorate the occasion, Alan Alda is looking back on one of the most emotional scenes from the show’s 11-season run.
In an interview with The New York Times, Alda reflected on the scene where Colonel Henry Blake suddenly died. The character was portrayed by late actor McLean Stevenson.
“Co-creator Larry Gelbart showed me the scene [the night before we shot it]. I knew, but nobody else knew. He wanted to get everybody’s first-time reactions,” Alda, 86, recalled. “And it really affected.
The episode, titled “Abyssinia, Henry”, concluded with Burghoff’s character Radar telling the team that Col. Blake’s plane had been shot down over the Sea of Japan. It aired on March 18, 1975.
It was a moment that shocked viewers- and one that still resonates with fans 50 years later.
In an interview with The Associated Press last year, Alda spoke about the reaction to the episode and how it reflected the reality of war.
“It shocked the audience, too,” Alda said. “I had a letter from a man who complained that he had to console his 10-year-old son
Aside from the “really good writing, acting and directing” of “M*A*S*H”, Alda told the newspaper that the element which really resonates with audiences is that, as frivolous as some of the stories may be, they are based on real experiences lived by actual people – and we tried to respect what they went through.
“I think that seeps into the unconscious of the audience,” he added.
In 2018, Alda revealed he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. A year later, he told People magazine that his diagnosis had helped him to understand better that everybody has something they are coping with.
