This is a list of characters from the M*A*S*H franchise created by Richard Hooker, covering the various fictional characters appearing in the novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors (1968) and its sequels M*A*S*H Goes to Maine (1971) and M*A*S*H Mania (1977), the 1970 film adaptation of the novel, the television series M*A*S*H (1972–1983), AfterMASH (1983–1985), W*A*L*T*E*R (1984), and Trapper John, M.D. (1979–1986), and the video game M*A*S*H (1983).

M*A*S*H is a media franchise revolving around the staff of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital as they attempt to maintain sanity during the harshness of the Korean War.

Overview Character Film actor TV actor M*A*S*H AfterMASH W*A*L*T*E*R Trapper John, M.D. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1 2 Capt. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce Donald Sutherland Alan Alda colspan="11" colspan="3" Capt. "Trapper" John McIntyre Elliott Gould Wayne RogersPernell Roberts colspan="3" colspan="11" Lt. Col. Henry Blake Roger Bowen McLean Stevenson colspan="3" colspan="12" Maj. Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan Sally Kellerman Loretta Swit colspan="11" colspan="4" Maj. (Lt. Col.) Frank Burns Robert Duvall Larry Linville colspan="5" colspan="10" Cpl. Walter "Radar" O'Reilly Gary Burghoff Gary Burghoff colspan="8" colspan="3" Capt. B. J. Hunnicutt Mike Farrell colspan="3" colspan="8" colspan="4" Col. Sherman T. Potter Harry Morgan colspan="3" colspan="10" colspan="2" Cpl./Sgt. Maxwell Q. "Max" Klinger Jamie Farr colspan="3" colspan="10" colspan="2" 1st Lt./Capt. John Patrick Francis Mulcahy Rene Auberjonois William Christopher colspan="4" colspan="9" colspan="2" Maj. Charles Emerson Winchester III David Ogden Stiers colspan="5" colspan="6" colspan="4" Captain Augustus Bedford "Duke" Forrest Tom Skerritt colspan="15" 1st Lt. Kealani Kellye Kellye Nakahara colspan="11" colspan="2" colspan="2" Soon-Lee Klinger (née Han) Rosalind Chao colspan="10" colspan="2" colspan="2"

Main characters Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce

Captain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce (Jr. in the novel) was played by Donald Sutherland in the film, and by Alan Alda in the television series. A principal character of the series, where between long sessions of treating wounded patients, he is found making wisecracks, drinking heavily, carousing, womanizing, and pulling pranks on the people around him, especially Frank Burns and "Hot Lips" Houlihan. In the novel, he serves as a moral center and author's alter ego, chiding Trapper John for calling Major Houlihan "Hot Lips", which Pierce never does. Although just one of an ensemble of characters in author Richard Hooker's MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, in the television series, Hawkeye became the center of the MASH unit's medical activity. In the television series, he becomes the Chief Surgeon of the unit early in the first season.Gelbart, Larry. M*A*S*H, Episode 1/4, "Chief Surgeon Who?". First aired October 8, 1972. Alan Alda is the only actor to appear in all 256 episodes of the series.

Pierce was born and raised in New England, most often mentioning Crabapple Cove, Maine, as a place that his family had a summer home and with a few references (primarily in the early seasons) to Vermont. His father graduated from medical school and settled as a doctor in Crabapple Cove in 1911. His mother is deceased and he has a sister (like Vermont, they are mentioned in some early episodes and then never again; although, in season 4, he says he was an only child), and he is close to his father. In the novel and film, Hawkeye is married with children, but in the TV series, he is a bachelor and something of a ladies' man (although he fakes being married to Vanessa Pierce Girlfriend in episode 1/23 "Ceasefire".)

He was given the nickname "Hawkeye" by his father, Benjy (Sr.), in the novel and in the series from the character in the novel The Last of the Mohicans, "the only book my old man ever read".Hornberger, Richard. MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, William Morrow, 1968, p. 12 His birth name is taken from a member of Hooker's own family named Franklin Pierce.

Although he had a rather unremarkable boyhood, by his own admission he had had several experiences he never forgot. Once when young, he fell overboard in a pond and nearly drowned as a result of a cruel practical joke, leaving him with lifelong claustrophobia. When he was 14, his father was angered to find him in bed with a girl and smoking a cigarette. When he was 12, he discovered his father was dating a female bookkeeper; to keep his father's attention all to himself, Hawkeye selfishly ruined their relationship so they couldn't marry.

He attended the fictional Androscoggin College. In the book and the film, Hawkeye had played football in college; in the series, he is non-athletic. After completing his medical residency (possibly in Chicago; he has a familiarity with the city that implies extended time spent there, e.g., "Adam's Ribs"); he had a common law marriage with a nurse, Carlye Breslin, but they broke up after a year. In 1950 he was drafted into the US Army Medical Corps and sent to serve at the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) during the Korean War. He became Chief Surgeon instead of Burns because Hawkeye specialized in cardiothoracic surgery in addition to general surgery, whereas Burns was only qualified in general surgery. Alda said of Pierce, "Some people think he was very liberal. But he was also a traditional conservative. I mean, he wanted nothing more than to have people leave him alone so he could enjoy his martini, you know? Government should get out of his liquor cabinet".

Pierce has little tolerance for military red tape and protocol, feeling they get in the way of his doing his job, and has little respect for most Regular Army personnel. He never wears rank insignia on his fatigues, usually wears a bathrobe instead of uniform, never polishes his combat boots, and only wears his Class A uniform when he believes appearance can achieve greater good, but does not wear any of the decorations to which he is entitled. (Based on what was told and shown in the course of the series, these would include the World War II Victory Medal, the Army of Occupation Medal,M*A*S*H, Episode 1/01, "Pilot", First aired September 17, 1972. the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Campaign Medal, the U.N. Service Medal, the Meritorious Unit Commendation, the Army Commendation Medal, the Purple Heart, and possibly a Legion of Merit; plus the Combat Medical Badge for his periodic service at battalion aid stations.) On occasion, he assumes temporary command of the 4077th in the absence or disability of Colonels Blake or Potter.

As a surgeon, he does not like the use of firearms and he refuses to carry a sidearm as required by regulations when serving as Officer of the Day.Marks, Lawrence. M*A*S*H, Episode 3/3, "Officer of the Day". First aired September 24, 1974. Retrieved May 14, 2015. When he is ordered by Colonel Potter to carry his issue pistol on a trip to a ROK aid station and they are ambushed on the road, he fires it into the air rather than at their attackers. This was after he told the gun "You're fired."Folb, Jay. M*A*S*H, Episode 5/11, "Hawkeye, Get Your Gun". First aired November 30, 1976. Retrieved May 14, 2015. He is also a chronic alcoholic, for three years in Korea drinking every day three times more heavily than the average person [his homemade still; daily tabs at the MASH Officers' Club, and Rosie's Bar] and also drinks 12-year-old Scotch whisky and Seagrams (Canadian whisky) the latter so heavily that in the episode "Bottle Fatigue" Klinger decides to buy stock in Seagrams.

In the series finale, "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen", Hawkeye experiences a mental breakdown when a Korean woman suffocates her infant child in response to his frantic demand that she quiet her child lest enemy soldiers hear it and discover them. In talking to psychiatrist Dr. Sidney Freedman he first says that the woman had suffocated a chicken, until Freedman led him to admit the repressed memory the horror of a mother smothering her own baby. He recommended that Hawkeye return to the 4077th for the end of the war to come to terms with what he had endured. In real life, Pierce would have faced a Section 8 discharge due to his emotional breakdown, having served in Korea for at least two years in a MASH unit.

In an episode earlier in the series, Hawkeye is mistakenly reported dead. He boards a Quartermaster Corps bus/hearse which has dead soldiers aboard, saying he has just about had his fill of war, and admits he is tired of seeing death every day.M*A*S*H, Episode 4/05, "The Late Captain Pierce". First aired October 3, 1975. In one episode, a temporary replacement surgeon from Tokyo General Hospital, who cut his teeth performing meatball surgery under impossible conditions in the Pusan Perimeter at the start of the war, does indeed crack under pressure and probably received a Section 8 due to his emotional breakdown that prevents him working as a combat surgeon.M*A*S*H, Episode 8/17, "Heal Thyself".

When the Korean Armistice Agreement is announced, he states his intention to return to Crabapple Cove to be a local doctor who has the time to get to know his patients, instead of contending with the endless flow of casualties he faced during his time in Korea. He is depicted doing this in Hooker's two sequels, M*A*S*H Goes to Maine and M*A*S*H Mania.

Trapper John McIntyre

Captain "Trapper" John Francis Xavier McIntyre appears in the novels, the film (played by Elliott Gould), the M*A*S*H TV series (played by Wayne Rogers), and the spin-off Trapper John, M.D. series (played by Pernell Roberts). He is one of the main characters in the M*A*S*H TV series during the first three seasons and the central character of the latter series. His nickname comes from an incident in which he was caught having sex with a woman in the lavatory aboard a Boston and Maine Railroad train: she claimed in her defense that "he trapped me!"

In the book and the film, Trapper John is a graduate of Dartmouth College, having played quarterback on the school's football team, and serves as thoracic surgeon of the 4077th. In the film, he has a dry, sardonic, deadpan sense of humor, while in the M*A*S*H television series he is more of a class clown. Trapper spends much of his time on the series engaging in mischief with Hawkeye Pierce, with the two playing practical jokes on Majors Frank Burns and Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan, heavy drinking, and trying to seduce women. While Trapper expresses great love for his wife and daughters, he also fraternizes with the nurses a great deal with no pretense of fidelity. He admits frankly that his wife collects his pay for a special fund to pay private investigators who will spy on him, which will begin the second night he gets home from Korea.

In the film, Hawkeye and Trapper are given roughly equal focus, but in the TV series, the character devolved to become more of a sidekick to the character of Hawkeye. This frustrated Rogers, and in combination with a dispute over the terms of the original five-year contract, he quit the show shortly before production of the fourth season began; the character of Trapper was abruptly discharged from the Army and sent back to the United States. The character of B. J. Hunnicutt was created to replace him, with the two-part Season Four opener created to explain his absence (the third episode introducing Col. Potter was intended to be the premiere episode).