Gary Burghoff is best known for his portrayal of Walter "Radar" O'Reilly in the television series M*A*S*H. Burghoff, a veteran of Broadway, played the same role in the feature film (1970), and was in the CBS series from 1972 to 1979. After he quit the show, Burghoff made infrequent television appearances and was a regular on Gene Rayburn's game show The Match Game (1979-81).
Burghoff played lovable loser Charlie Brown in the original 1967 off-Broadway cast of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown... Other stars of M*A*S*H included McLean Stevenson (as Henry Blake) and Loretta Swit (as 'Hot Lips' Houlihan).
American actor Gary Burghoff was the son of a Connecticut clockworks executive and a professional dancer. Under the aegis of his mother (the dancer), Burghoff studied tap dancing from age 5; he also trained himself to be a professional drummer, despite the fact that he'd been born with three deformed fingers on his left hand. Turning to acting, Burghoff found that his high piping voice and his 5'6" frame consigned him to child and teenager roles - which became a blessing when he was cast in the title role of the off-broadway musical You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown in 1967. Director Robert Altman cast Burghoff as Cpl. "Radar" O'Reilly in his antiwar comedy M*A*S*H (1970); the name Radar was derived from the character's uncanny ability to anticipate what people were going to say and to sense when the "choppers" were bringing incoming wounded into the "Mobile Army Surgical Hospital" of the film's acronymic title. When M*A*S*H was converted into a TV situation comedy in 1972, Burghoff was the only member of the original movie cast to be signed for the series (It was not his first TV stint; he'd been a regular on 1970's Don Knotts Show). The actor played company clerk Radar from 1972 through 1979, winning an Emmy in the process and endearing himself to millions of fans. Not all his costars found Burghoff as lovable as Radar; he could be somewhat bullheaded on the set, especially when he felt that others weren't working to their fullest capacity. Except for occasional guest-star appearances - including an inevitable spot on Murder She Wrote, that settlement house of former sitcom stars - Burghoff hasn't worked much since M*A*S*H. This inactivity was by choice, in that Burghoff preferred to devote his time to his numerous pro-ecology and Animal Rights causes. In the late 1980s, Gary Burghoff was reunited with several of his M*A*S*H costars in a series of elaborately produced IBM television commercials. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Although several actors from the original MASH film made guest appearances in the television series, Burghoff was the only actor cast as a regular.
He left M*A*S*H after season 7 because of burnout and a desire to spend more time with his family, though he returned in season 8 to film a special 2-part farewell episode, "Goodbye Radar". Castmate Mike Farrell tried to convince Burghoff to stay on the show, citing the lackluster careers of former M*A*S*H regulars Larry Linville and McLean Stevenson after their departures. Burghoff was nominated for 6 Emmy Awards for the show in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and of those 6 nominations, he only won one Emmy in 1977.
Episode 24 Season 1 of the M*A*S*H television series titled "Showtime" features Radar playing a solo on the drums. It is a misconception that the sound was dubbed in; it is actually Gary Burghoff's performance.[2]
Match Game
Burghoff on Match Game
Burghoff also frequently appeared on the game show Match Game in the 1970s, both as a stand-in for regular Charles Nelson Reilly and also as the "special male guest" occupying seat one. He sat in for Reilly from 1974 until Match Game episode 471 when Reilly returned in 1975 from Broadway. He appeared in 248 episodes of Match Game through its daytime run, syndicated run, and the nighttime version of the show. 215 episodes daytime, 18 episodes on Match Game PM (nighttime), and 15 episodes during the syndicated version.
For years he appeared in commercials for the Gulf Petroleum Company (now British Petroleum) as the "Gulf Guy".
In addition to acting, Burghoff also works as a professional jazzdrummer, heading the trio The We Three, and as a wildlife painter. His other activities include outdoorsmanship and rifle shooting. Burghoff is also the inventor of, and holds a patent on, the "Chum Magic", a fishing tackle invention that attracts fish to your boat.[3][4]
Burghoff is a philatelist and was the star of a United States Postal Service video for beginning stamp collectors. In 2000, Burghoff was also a spokesperson for dot-com era auction aggregation site PriceRadar.com.[5]
Burghoff's left hand is withered and misshapen with the fingers being very short—no cause is known about it, though it is presumed to be a birth defect known as a localized dysmelia. In M*A*S*H, he is often seen carrying a clipboard or other object to conceal the defect. The first time this was brought to light was in the mid 1980s in a public broadcasting special about various impairments and how people with them cope in the world.
Burghoff was married to Janet Gayle, from 1971 to 1979; they had one child before the marriage ended in divorce. In 1985, he married Elisabeth Bostrom; they have two children together. Burghoff currently resides in Paradise, California. Through 2009, he appears as a "doctor" in TV ads for a local construction company.
References
^ ab Born in 1943 per Intelius check of "Gary Rich Burghoff" giving age 65 as of July 31, 2008
