| Vital stats | Pictures | ||||
Looking for more pictures of McLean Stevenson? |
|||||
 |
| ||||
| Biography | |
Stevenson made his professional stage debut in The Music Man (1962) and appeared in Warsaw, Indiana, regularly in summer stock productions, before appearing in New York on stage and in television commercials. He debuted in New York in various revues at "The Upstairs at the Downstairs club", both as writer and performer. On Broadway, he performed in Bye Bye Birdie and I'll Always Remember Miss What's Her Name. During the sixties, Stevenson made a series of guest appearances on shows such as Naked City, The Defenders, and Car 54, Where Are You?. Nevertheless it was as a comedy writer, that he began to establish himself, writing for the seminal That Was The Week That Was, in which Alan Alda appeared, and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour - in both shows he was also allowed to perform occasionally.
McLean Stevenson died unexpectedly of a heart attack on February 15, 1996, at the age of 66, leaving behind his wife Ginny, his daughter Lindsey and his son Jeffrey MacGregor from a previous marriage. | |
| A tribute from Larry Gelbart published with his kind permision and with thanks to Eric L. Miller |
McLean Stevenson was a complicated man who hid a lot of those complications by constantly trying to entertain those around him. Like so many of us, he was always seeking approval. God knows he received it for his work on the series. I don't think most people appreciate how far he extended himself in his role as Henry Blake. To begin with, he was working with actors with far more dramatic training and experience than he had been exposed to. Most of his career had been devoted to comedy writing and sketch performing - a far cry from what he was expected to do on MASH. That he rose to the challenge and the standard, watch him again in his scene with Hawkeye in the episode called, "Sometimes You Hear the Bullet," in which he tries to comfort Hawkeye by saying there is just so much the surgeons can be expected to in keeping young men alive in a war where victory is determied by how many young men are killed. He not only acted - he felt the words he had to deliver. And acting is whole lot about feelings than it is about reciting your lines and standing in the right place to do so. I missed him when he left the series. I miss him now. That's twice in one lifetime he left before he should have. Abyssinia - and love - Mac. Larry S. Gelbart Source: Andy Lawson's M*A*S*H 4077 Homepage [http://www.mash4077.co.uk] |
| Filmography | |
This filmography is based on the Internet Movie Database: English | |
| He wrote the following episodes of M*A*S*H: | |
| |
In 1961 his cousin invited him to a party, where he met some show business luminaries. He followed his cousins advice to look for a show business career, and gave up politics. He auditioned and won a scholarship to the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. Stevenson's teachers included the well-respected Lee Strasberg, Sandy Meisner, David Craig, Lehman Engel, and Sue Seaton.
After a guest appearance on That Girl (1966), with Marlo Thomas, he was signed to a regular role on The Doris Day Show in 1969, playing magazine editor boss Michael Nicholson until 1971. In 1970 he was a regular during the one-year run of the Tim Conway Variety Hour. In 1972, Stevenson auditioned for the part of Hawkeye in the sitcom adaption of the movie M*A*S*H. But he was convinced to play Henry Blake and proposed by CBS for that role. This role was his breakthorugh and catapulted him to stardom. In the fall of 1973, Stevenson, already a popular guest on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, began a long-running second career as a guest host on the show. In the three years he appeared in M*A*S*H, he wrote one episode (for which he was also nominated for the Emmy) and provided the story for another episode. He collected three Emmy nominations for his work as actor, but soon he chafed on his role and after year three he asked to be released from his five year contract. He signed a long term contract with NBC for a show of his own, where he probably also earned a lot more money, and his M*A*S*H character was killed of in 1975.
Unfortunately the McLean Stevenson Show was very short lived, a fate it shared with other series he appeared in, like Celebrity Challenge of the Sexes, In the Beginning (1978), Hello, Larry (1979), and Condo (1983). After guest appearances in the series The Love Boat (1983), Hotel (1984), and The Golden Girls (1987), he played the role of Max Kellerman in the series adaption of Dirty Dancing (1988). His last acting appearance was in the mini series Tales of the City in 1993. He also returned to stage productions, was a spokesman for USAir and First Alert, and appeared in scores of golf tournaments, telethons and other fund raising events for charity causes. He also dabbled in script writing, including one titled Doc Knuckles, about a chiropractor. Stevenson, who was burned as a child by a Halloween pumpkin, was very involved with the Children's Burn Foundation in Sherman Oaks, California, serving as its national spokesman. His family requested that memorial contributions be sent to the foundation.
