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Rate them as actors,..

Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 8:35 am
by Mr Kwong
Here's my list;

1. Harry Morgan- he was there for the transition from comedy to drama, and it showed how versatile he was, he could be fatherly, gruff, and hilarious..
2. Gary Burghoff - so convincing, and adept in both the comedic & dramatic aspects of the show..
3. Alan Alda - a talented actor, but he could be incrediby hammy & overbearing
4. McClean Stevenson - criminally underrated, his speech in "Sometimes you hear the bullet" showed his versatility
5. Wayne Rogers - also underrated, he made it look easy,
6. David Ogden Stiers - more adept at drama than comedy,
7. Larry Linville - he played a one-dimensional character, but he did it so well many say the show lost a couple of steps when he left.
7. Mike Farrell - Not all that funny doing comedy, kinda stiff doing drama,
8. William Christopher - as a "one-off character" he made the most of it when his role expanded.
9. Jamie Farr - Klinger was great when he showed up in a dress, barked a line or two & left..when there was more to do, (in spite of some of the horrible dialogue in later seasons) Farr wasn't up to the task..
10. Loretta Switt - in the early seasons Hot lips was, like Frank pretty one-dimensional, like Jamie Farr when she was given more to do, it showed how limited she was

Re: Rate them as actors,..

Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2018 11:43 am
by J Fred Muggs
I tend to agree with Mr. Kwong's rankings and associated comments with the following changes:
Loretta Switt is a fairly good actress and I'd place her in the 4-6 ranking.
I'd place David Ogden Stiers in the top 5.
Jamie Farr at the bottom, with William Christoper and Mike Farrell tied for 2nd worst.

Re: Rate them as actors,..

Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2018 7:22 am
by Miley
Mmm difficult.. they did so well together.

1. McClean Stevenson
2. Alan Alda
3. Gary Burghoff
4. Harry Morgan
5. Wayne Rogers
6. Larry Linville
7. Mike Farrell
8. David Ogden Stiers
9. Loretta Swit
10. Jamie Farr (9 and 10 are equal for me)
11. William Christopher

Re: Rate them as actors,..

Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 9:01 pm
by UglyJohn
It sort of goes from episode to episode and the writing behind those. Actors are only as good as their writers and producers. Lame scripts and poor plots will make any actor look bad. Vice versa, good scripts, superior writing and excellent cinematography can make pretty people who can't act look like Emmy and Oscar winners.

It's hard to rate actors without looking at their total body of work outside of MASH. But strictly using MASH and its 11 seasons as the filter and taking out the actors' off screen personalities...

1. Alan Alda - acting range and on screen charisma. He could slapstick his way through a scene and yet be crying his eyes out in the next scene. Nobody in that cast could match him other than Gary Burghoff, who acted "taller" than he really was. But Alda was a cold fish off screen and he infused his politics into the show later in the decade.

2. Maclean Stevenson, mostly because of his comedic talents to be subtle in the way he delivered his lines. He was sensitive and didn't need to be a ham fisted yokel. He never found the writers to showcase his talent after he left.

3. Gary Burghoff. He played Radar to the hilt but convinced you that the kid was innocent as a lamb but scheming as a horny teenager in the early years. Who else was going to ask about strange movies that Henry ordered through the mail and yet cut holes in the nurses shower tent?

4. Larry Linville. Playing Frank Burns was a chore and he did it with amazing range. He could be a sucky lech towards Margaret one minute and an obnoxious twerp with his fellow Swamp mates the next.

5. Wayne Rogers. He didn't have a lot of range, but he did Trapper extremely well. In House Calls he was so much better because he was the star.

6. David Ogden Stiers. His Charles Emerson Winchester was pricless at a time when the show needed some gravitas to contrast Frank Burns. He projected a character that represented how war knows no class distinction.

7. Loretta Swit. She was fantastic as early shrieking Hotlips, but lousy once they made her into just plain ole Margaret. If only they had let her out of the contract and do Cagney and Lacey. Early seasons rely on her looks and the Hotlips sexpot image, later seasons lean on her acting range and there isn't much there.

8. Jamie Farr. Just another character actor from a theatrical background who struck it rich by playing a cross dressing gag to the hilt. Love Klinger but you can see that aside from playing the running joke he wasn't going to be able to much more than stock drama as non-dressy Klinger. No range and character actor looks limited Farr unfortunately.

9. Mike Farrell. BJ, Beej was just an annoymous vanilla sidekick cooked up by the producers to replace Trapper. Farrell was a soap actor and on a Paramount contract when he was approached to be the replacement for Trap. He took the contract and did a good job, but BJ is just a stock character who doesn't seem to be anything other than married, loyal and righteous.

10. William Christopher. Another annonymous central casting actor who played a quiet dignified Mulcahy who didn't get too edgy too often unless there was some need to distract the viewers with outrage. Christopher brought it with his dramatic range but honestly, he wasn't going anywhere beyond the righteous padre here.

Re: Rate them as actors,..

Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 10:57 am
by BeccaLeo1972
1. Harry Morgan- McLean Stevenson
2. Wayne Rogers
3. Loretta Switt
4. David Ogden Stiers- Larry Linville
5. Mike Farrell- Jamie Farr
6. Gary Burghoff- William Christopher
7. Alan Alda

Re: Rate them as actors,..

Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2018 5:09 pm
by Mr Kwong
It seems like we're pretty much in agreement that when the show became more dramatic and roles expanded, there were a few actors who weren't up to the task.




If you want to see how versatile Harry Morgan was watch him as Gen Steele in "The general flipped at dawn", then watch "change of command" or any episode from season four,..it's almost like watching two different people..

Re: Rate them as actors,..

Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 9:43 am
by UglyJohn
Mr Kwong wrote: Wed Oct 17, 2018 5:09 pmIf you want to see how versatile Harry Morgan was watch him as Gen Steele in "The general flipped at dawn", then watch "change of command" or any episode from season four,..it's almost like watching two different people..
I was going to mention that too. Morgan was as wacky as you could get for a general. When they cast him as a regular, they really constrained him by making him into the stern grampa watching over the kids. And I forgot to put him in my ranking, geez. I'd put him at 3, so ahead of Gary Burghoff and just a smidge behind Maclean Stevenson.

It seems like we're pretty much in agreement that when the show became more dramatic and roles expanded, there were a few actors who weren't up to the task.
Yes, definitely. The ones who had been cast as one trick ponies or who worked a schtick like Klinger were going to have a tough time working the dramatic scenes.