LOS ANGELES — Wayne Rogers, whose Trapper John McIntyre alongside Alan Alda’s Hawkeye Pierce brought mischief, martinis and meatball surgery to the masses in the 1970s each week on “M*A*S*H,” has died.
The actor was surrounded by family when he died Thursday in Los Angeles of complications from pneumonia at age 82, his publicist told The Associated Press.
Rogers’ army surgeon Trapper John was one of the most beloved characters — and half of one of the most beloved duos — in TV history, despite the actor’s appearing in only the first three of the show’s 11 seasons on CBS.
McIntyre was on “M*A*S*H” from 1972 to 1975.
Hawkeye and Trapper were essentially equals when the show began, but it increasingly focused on Alda, which was a factor in Rogers’ departure.
In the years after “M*A*S*H,” he returned to TV regularly, including a recurring role in the early 1990s on “Murder, She Wrote.”
