TMC
03-14-2022, 08:49 PM
https://www.looper.com/798073/the-real-reason-gary-burghoff-left-mash/
Burghoff had a couple of reasons to walk away from MASH
Gary Burghoff got a fitting sendoff from "M*A*S*H" via a two-part 1979 episode titled "Good-Bye Radar." While the show soldiers on admirably in Radar's absence, "M*A*S*H" is arguably never quite the same without him. As for why Burghoff left, frequent "M*A*S*H" director Charles S. Dubin claimed the actor felt he "wasn't getting his proper dues" playing Radar, as he revealed during an interview with the Television Academy Foundation (https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/people/gary-burghoff?clip=63258).
Dubin also claimed issues in Burghoff's personal life may have contributed to his departure, stating, "He was having trouble with his wife at the time." To this point, Dubin explained that the actor struggled to get through a particular scene in his farewell episode, claiming Burghoff, "broke into tears and I had to stop everything for 15 minutes and walk him around the backlot of Fox. In the script, he was talking about a future with [a character Radar had fallen in love with] ... I think that was a large part of it."
Burghoff himself never spoke much about his reasons for walking away from "M*A*S*H," but he reportedly did confirm that the desire to spend more time with his family played a role, stating in a 2006 radio interview with Oakville, Ontario's JOY 1250, "Family, to me, became the most important thing. I was not available as a father because of my work" (via ASSIST News Service (https://web.archive.org/web/20140224024058/http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2006/s06050004.htm)). Cleary, the time commitment of being in a network series had been taking a toll on Burghoff's personal life. As much as he is missed in the later seasons of "M*A*S*H," one can hardly blame him for putting his family before his work.
Burghoff had a couple of reasons to walk away from MASH
Gary Burghoff got a fitting sendoff from "M*A*S*H" via a two-part 1979 episode titled "Good-Bye Radar." While the show soldiers on admirably in Radar's absence, "M*A*S*H" is arguably never quite the same without him. As for why Burghoff left, frequent "M*A*S*H" director Charles S. Dubin claimed the actor felt he "wasn't getting his proper dues" playing Radar, as he revealed during an interview with the Television Academy Foundation (https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/people/gary-burghoff?clip=63258).
Dubin also claimed issues in Burghoff's personal life may have contributed to his departure, stating, "He was having trouble with his wife at the time." To this point, Dubin explained that the actor struggled to get through a particular scene in his farewell episode, claiming Burghoff, "broke into tears and I had to stop everything for 15 minutes and walk him around the backlot of Fox. In the script, he was talking about a future with [a character Radar had fallen in love with] ... I think that was a large part of it."
Burghoff himself never spoke much about his reasons for walking away from "M*A*S*H," but he reportedly did confirm that the desire to spend more time with his family played a role, stating in a 2006 radio interview with Oakville, Ontario's JOY 1250, "Family, to me, became the most important thing. I was not available as a father because of my work" (via ASSIST News Service (https://web.archive.org/web/20140224024058/http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2006/s06050004.htm)). Cleary, the time commitment of being in a network series had been taking a toll on Burghoff's personal life. As much as he is missed in the later seasons of "M*A*S*H," one can hardly blame him for putting his family before his work.