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 Gary
(Radar) Burghoff - Actor, Painter,
RVer
Gary
owns a Gulf Stream and has been
RVing for 31 years.
By
David Long
Photo:
Gary Burghoff (Photo, courtesy
Ed Lewis, and www.celebrityalmanac.com)
Gary
Burghoff is an avid RVer. He enjoys
traveling across the United States
in his RV. By driving rather than
flying, he gets to see the landscape
as he travels toward his destination,
wherever it might be. He also gets
to meet a lot of different people.
With the diversity present in America,
he feels meeting different kinds
of people is part of being an American.
His
career has also given him RV opportunities.
For his 1999-2000 tour of “Last
of the Red Hot Lovers,” the cast
traveled in an RV.
Gary
Burghoff was born to Rodney Burghoff,
who worked for a clock company,
and Ann Burghoff, who had been a
professional dancer and directed
local theater productions. He has
an older brother, David. From an
early age, Gary's love for animals
became readily apparent. He bred
angelfish when he was 8; he also
freed a flock of ducks from a neighbor's
farm. At age 14, he worked in a
pet shop.
At
an early age, Gary began honing
his skills in music, art and acting
early as well. During his sophomore
year of high school, Gary's family
moved to Delavan, Wisconsin, where
his father got another job. While
in high school, Gary played drums
with the Bud Wilber Orchestra in
Milwaukee clubs. In 1961, his painting
"Men of Jazz" won him
the Hallmark Award and represented
Wisconsin in the Hallmark Student
Art Exhibit in Washington, D.C.
Burghoff's
acting career started during his
high school days when he appeared
as Bobby in “The Boy Friend.” He
also acted at the Belfry Theatre
where his mother served as choreographer.
After graduation, he headed to New
York to study with Sandy Meisner,
James Tuttle and Charles Nelson
Reilly. He sold underwear at Saks
Fifth Avenue to make money while
studying. At the same time, he played
jazz at local night spots with "The
We Three," a trio he formed.
At
New York night clubs such as the
Duplex and Nag's Head Inn, Burghoff
honed his singing talents. He performed
at New Haven's Long Wharf Theatre
as Og in “Finian's Rainbow” and
as Eugene in “Look Homeward, Angel”
at the Music Theatre in Rochester,
N.H. He also had roles on stage
in “Babes in Arms,” “Bells are Ringing,”
“The Sound of Music,” and “Tea and
Sympathy.”
Gary
made his TV debut in “Repertoire
Workshop” on CBS in the 1960s. In
1967, he had his big break when
he was cast as Charlie Brown in
the original Off-Broadway production
of “You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.”
The play won the Outer Circles Critics
Award. Over the course of three
years (one year in New York City
and two years in Los Angeles), he
performed the part over one thousand
times. Robert Altman was so impressed
with Gary that he gave him a screen
test. That screen test led to Gary's
part as Radar in the movie “M*A*S*H.”
Gary
was the only actor in Twentieth
Century Fox's hit film who was asked
to reprise his character for the
extremely successful television
series. When bringing his character
to the TV series, Burghoff said
he had to "…re-create the Radar
character because he wasn't fully
developed in the feature."
It was Gary's idea to give Radar
a real first name. He went to Writer/Creative
Executive Larry Gelbart and suggested
"Walter," after a childhood
friend who never understood a joke
made at someone else's expense.
Gelbart also based several of Radar's
qualities upon those of Burghoff,
such as his love for nature. When
visiting the Burghoff home in Malibu,
Gelbart saw the wildlife sanctuary
which Gary and his then wife Janet
maintained in their backyard. At
the time, his animal rehabilitation
clinic was the only bird sanctuary
licensed by the State of California.
Inspired by it, Gelbart created
Radar's zoo in the series. His sanctuary
is how Gary became known as the
"Birdman of Malibu." He
cared for over a hundred animals,
such as birds and raccoons.
Burghoff
received Emmy nominations for seven
of his eight years on “M*A*S*H.”
In 1977, he won the Emmy for Best
Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
Unfortunately, it was the one year
he didn't attend the awards ceremony—he
was fishing. The presenter was “M*A*S*H”
star Alan Alda, who said he was
glad Burghoff could not appear because
"…it gives me an opportunity
to tell the world what a wonderful,
gifted and outstanding person Gary
Burghoff is—something he, of course,
would not say about himself."
McLean
Stevenson once said Gary "…was
the best actor" on “M*A*S*H.”
Stevenson, who played Col. Henry
Blake on the show, was Burghoff's
closest friend on the set. One of
the most memorable moments came
at the end of the third year when
McLean Stevenson was leaving the
show. The final page of the script,
which said that Henry's plane was
shot down with no survivors, was
kept a secret from the cast (excluding
Alan Alda) until the moment before
filming. At the end of the episode,
Radar walked into the operating
room to deliver the news. While
walking in to deliver the line,
Burghoff noticed Stevenson on the
set watching the scene. Having just
been informed of the shocking ending
moments and knowing he would no
longer be working with Stevenson,
Burghoff's performance was very
realistic (in both takes; it had
to be redone because of an extra's
mistake).
Gary
Burghoff was among those present
at McLean Stevenson's memorial service
when he passed away from a heart
attack in 1996. "McLean Stevenson
was one of the kindest, most sensitive
people I've worked with or known,"
said Burghoff in an article by the
Associated Press. "My personal
sense of loss is magnified a thousand
times by what this kind, funny gentleman
has meant to all those who knew
him."
Burghoff
left “M*A*S*H” shortly after the
start of its eighth season. He wanted
to spend more time with his family,
and in an interview in “The Complete
Book of M*A*S*H,” he discussed how
he suffered from burnout. The strict
scheduling required was difficult.
After the third season, Gary was
in fewer episodes each season due
to the effect it was having on his
family life. He also felt he had
learned all he could from being
in the series and didn't want to
stay just for the money.
After
leaving the show, he turned down
several sitcoms, including a part
on “Newhart.” However, he did return
for two episodes of “AfterMASH,”
reprising his still popular role
as Radar; he also did a pilot for
“W*A*L*T*E*R” in which his character
becomes a police officer.
After
leaving “M*A*S*H,” he created his
own All-Star Dixieland Jazz Band
which recorded an album and toured
some of the nation's jazz clubs.
In regional theater, he toured five
theaters doing “The Owl and the
Pussycat”; it broke four of the
theaters' attendance records. Next,
he did Woody Allen's “Play It Again,
Sam,” breaking more house records.
Gary also became a born-again Christian.
After
doing “The Nerd” in 1987, Gary took
time off from acting to raise a
family. In the early 1990s, he was
facing financial trouble though.
He prayed to God for help and received
an answer—paint. Although painting
had been a lifelong passion, it
wasn't until the early 1990s that
he began painting professionally.
Since then, he has been doing wildlife
paintings and has toured art galleries
across the United States to display
them. He has donated several pieces
of art to auctions held by various
wildlife preservation societies
and other worthy causes.
Although
unnoticeable in his work, Gary was
born with three fingers on his left
hand slightly smaller than normal.
In the 1980s, he did public service
television advertisements promoting
handicapped awareness.
Gary's
favorite sports are baseball and
fishing. He has visited and fished
in every state, except Alaska, which
he plans to visit one day. He is
also an inventor, and he holds several
patents for fishing tackle, including
Chum Magic, a floating device that
can be filled with chum to attract
fish. Gary says it helps increase
catches by about 300 percent.
His
other interests include coin collecting
and stamp collecting. A large portion
(or all?) of his coin collection
was auctioned off at a public auction
in 1980. In 1988, Gary filmed “The
Video Guide to Stamp Collecting”,
which displays many different stamps
and has helpful tips for novice
collectors. He was a judge in the
Federal Duck Stamp Competition in
1994.
Gary
and his first wife, Janet Gayle,
have one daughter, Gena. Gena is
an actress in Los Angeles; she co-starred
in “Behind the Waterfall” in 1995
with Gary. Married in 1971, Gary
and Janet divorced in 1979. Gary
has two boys, Jordan and Miles,
with his second wife, Elisabeth.
Elisabeth is a dental assistant
for the developmentally disabled.
To
see Gary Burghoff’s wildlife art,
visit http://members.aol.com/ArtByRadar.
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