Wayne Rogers was best known for his role as Trapper John McIntyre in M*A*S*H. (Photo: AP)
Wayne Rogers, best known for his role as Trapper John McIntyre in M*A*S*H*, died Thursday in Los Angeles of complications from pneumonia at age 82. Longtime publicist and friend Rona Menashe confirmed the tragic news to The Associated Press.
Alongside Alan Alda who played Hawkeye Pierce, the two troublemaking surgeons drank martinis and entertained America every week in the 1970s. Rogers’ Trapper John was one of the most beloved characters– and half of one of the most beloved duos–in TV history, even though the character was replaced after the first three of the show’s 11 seasons on CBS.
McIntyre was on “M.A.S.H.” from 1972 to 1975, becoming the first of what would be several of the original cast members to leave the very popular show that ran until 1983. He was initially considered for Alda’s character, but he preferred Trapper’s sunnier disposition to Hawkeye’s darkly acerbic personality, which would dominate the final episode of the series.
The latter episodes in the series shifted to increasingly focus on Hawkeye’s character played by Alda, which played a role in Rogers’ departure.
Rogers was an Alabama native and Princeton University graduate, and appeared in westerns like “Law of the Plainsman” and “Stagecoach West” earlier in his career. He had a bit part in the 1967 film “Cool Hand Luke” with Paul Newman. He returned to TV in the years after “M.A.S.H.” for a recurring role in the early 1990s on “Murder, She Wrote.”
But Rogers would move beyond acting to see serious success later in life as a money manager and investor. In 1988 and 1990, he appeared as an expert witness before the House Judiciary Committee to speak in favor of maintaining the Glass-Steagall banking laws of the 1930s and, in recent years, he was a regular panelist on the Fox News stock investment show “Cashin’ In.”
Rogers is survived by his wife Amy, two children, Bill and Laura, and four grandchildren.
