You had to know Harry to appreciate his abundant humor, warmth, kindness, modesty and his special kind of quiet strength. There was not an insecure bone in him. He was a “straight shooter” but also non-judgmental, understanding and tolerant.

Read the entire statement at Ken’s blog. Mike Farrell released a statement to the press yesterday and comments from Jamie Farr were included in an NPR story published on Wednesday.

It looks like Gary Burghoff has joined many of his fellow M*A*S*H alum and penned an autobiography. According to Amazon.com, Gary Burghoff: To M*A*S*H and Back (subtitled “My Life in Poems and Songs (That Nobody Ever Wanted to Publish”) was released just last week on June 10th. Larry Gelbart provided the foreward.

Here’s the summary from the website for publisher BearManor Media:

To millions of faithful television viewers, Gary Burghoff will always be Walter “Radar” O’Reilly, the lovable telepathic assistant to Colonel Potter on M*A*S*H. But the man behind the bespectacled TV Land icon is a true Renaissance man. He’s a classically trained stage actor, a jazz musician, an environmentalist, a poet, a songwriter, an inventor, a wildlife artist, and now – a writer.

In this intensely personal memoir, the author takes you on his journey from his family’s home in Wisconsin to his successful carreer on the New York stage, from the Hollywood film version of M*A*S*H to the hit television show, from the challenges of married life to the rewards of single fatherhood. Often funny, occationally poignant and always honest, To M*A*S*H and Back is an account you will long remember.

Earlier autobiographies from the cast and crew of M*A*S*H include Jamie Farr’s Just Farr Fun (1994), Larry Gelbart’s Laughing Matters: On Writing M*A*S*H, Tootsie, Oh, God!, and a Few Other Funny Things (1998), Alan Alda’s Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: And Other Things I’ve Learned (2006) and Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself (2008) and Mike Farrell’s Just Call Me Mike: A Journey to Actor and Activist (2008). Not to mention William Christopher’s Mixed Blessings (1990) and Jeff Maxwell’s Secrets of The M*A*S*H Mess: The Lost Recipes of Private Igor (1997).

I should mention that I haven’t read any of these books.

I was actually surprised to find only one article about the commercials, published in The Hartford Courant on February 2nd, 2000. According to the article, there were initially three 30-second commercials, titled “Incoming Storm,” “The Airport Spot” and “The Boardroom.” Said Burghoff about the commercials, “It’s fun because it’s in Connecticut, and it’s being seen by all my friends and relatives. It’s fun because Channel 3 goes back in my memory as far as it goes.” Burghoff was born in Bristol, Connecticut and still has a summer home in the state.

In the article, Burghoff explains that he didn’t have a problem spoofing his character from M*A*S*H. “When I heard they wanted to do a parody of Radar, I thought it was a cute idea. Parody is one thing I will do on a selective basis of Radar. Anything else lowers the dignity of the ‘M*A*S*H’ experience.” The article notes that the first three commercials debuted on January 17th, 2000 and were set to run for at least two months. There’s no mention of the commercial I found from December of 2001 but obviously Burghoff filmed at least one additional commercial for WFSB. I have no idea if there were even more commercials or when they were last shown.

Sources:
Weiss, Tara. “‘Radar’ Pitches Radar.” Hartford Courant. 2 Feb. 2000: D.1.