Buddies outside of mash??

[Grove17]

Anyone ever think about what members of the cast were really friends when the camera wasn't rolling?

From watching reunion shows, youtube videos, it seems to me like Co. Potter and the Father were pretty close, even maybe add Klinger in there, and not because of the after MASH show they were on, but it does make me wonder.

I cant help but wonder what kind of parties they had if some of them were friends outside of filming.

[Big Daddy O'Reilly]

Alan Alda and Wayne Rogers were really close. They would often carpool together to and from the Ranch, because Wayne hated to drive, but Alan loved to, and often times on the set, the two would sit around and bounce jokes and zingers off one another and see what would work on camera between Hawkeye and Trapper (apparently Hawkeye's lame knock-knock jokes were among them). Sometime in the early 90s, I think, Alan was being inducted in some kind of hall of fame or something, and Wayne was the one who introduced him, and he said that he got emotional talking about Alan and the impact he's had in the field of television. Mike Farrell also speaks highly of Alan, and I know when he was new to the show, Alan reached out to him, and the two of them got together and discussed different possibilities between Hawkeye and B.J., what the dynamics of their relationship would be like, what direction they could take the show in, etc. Mike was nervous that if the show failed, it'd be his fault since he was the new guy, Alan sensed that, and wanted him to feel as welcome and comfortable on the set as possible. Similarly, when David Ogden Stiers first joined the cast, he too was worried that he would be responisble if the show began to slump in the ratings, so Mike reached out to him much like Alan did for him before.

Harry Morgan has said that Gary Burghoff was like a son to him, and Loretta Swit was like a daughter; Loretta often spent weekends with Harry and his wife, and apparently the two ladies became real good gal-pals as well.

Gary and Mac Stevenson have spoken very highly of each other as well.

And everyone agreed that Larry Linville was one of the kindest, sweetest, most caring and generous peoeple they had ever known, I believe it was Harry who was quoted as saying, "We all loved Larry, but on stage, we all hated Frank."

Everybody seemed to love Bill Christopher as well, I know like they did on the show once, apparently the others loved to have Bill Christopher sound-alike contests from time to time.

David was a big prankster on the set, and often loved playing practical jokes on others behind their backs, and sometimes in cahoots with certain others... finally, it got to a point where the others pulled the wool over his eyes by staging a huge misunderstanding to get back at him (and, as you can imagine, that's where the idea of Charles playing pranks on Hawkeye and B.J. with Margaret, and on Margaret with Hawkeye and B.J., then all of them staging a fight afterwards to get back at him is where that plot came from).

There are rumors, however, that Jamie Farr and Alan Alda hate each other, but I haven't seen any official sources that back up those claims.