McLean Stevenson Add to My Celebs Age 68 (passed away Feb. 15th, 1996) Birthday Nov. 14th, 1927 Born in Normal, Illinois, USA Height 6' 2 1/2"

McLean Stevenson's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) M*A*S*H Lt. Col. He… Diff'rent Strokes Larry Alder Dinah! McLean Stev… Square One TV Mike Pliers Condo James Kirkr… The McLean Stevenson Show McLean 'Mac… Dirty Dancing (1988) Max Kellerman In the Beginning Father Dani…

Main Movie Roles 1978 - The Cat from Outer Space

NOTE: Complete List of Works can be found at IMDB


BIOGRAPHY:

McLean Stevenson began in show business at age 31. During the 1960s, he worked in night clubs and comedy cabarets, did summer stock theater and some television before moving to Hollywood, where he worked as a comedy writer for Tom Smothers. He eventually began acting in sketches. Mr. Stevenson is best known as the fumbling commanding officer, Lt. Colonel Henry Blake, on the CBS television series "M*A*S*H" (1972). Over a period of thirty years, he also appeared on a number of television series and was a regular guest star on Johnny Carson (I)'s "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" (1962) and the game show _"Hollywood Squares, The" (1966)_.


TRIVIA:

• After the news of Col. Blake's death on _"M*A*S*H" (1972)_ (qv) (He left at the end of the third season) shocked the world, the very next night on "The Carol Burnett Show" (1967), the opening shot was of Henry Blake in a smoking raft, waving his arms, hollering, "I'm OK! I'm OK!".
• Grandfather was Vice-President Adlai E. Stevenson, who served under President 'Grover Cleveland (I)' (qv) from 1893 to 1897.
• Brother of 'Ann Whitney' (qv).
• Served in the Navy.
• The unexpected death of Stevenson's Henry Blake character from M*A*S*H's at the end of the third season (1975) caused such a strong fan backlash, with countless letters of hate mail being received over the character's death, that the show's writers and producers all agreed that in the future, should one of their actors wish to leave, they would never give that actor's character a tragic send off.
• Stevenson died one day before 'Roger Bowen' (qv). Bowen played the role of Col. Henry Blake in the movie _MASH (1970)_ (qv); Stevenson played the role on TV.
• One legacy of Stevenson is a word coined from his first name. "McLeaning" is a term used in media, especially television, to refer to cases when a character is killed off because the actor who played him decided to leave the show, as happened to Henry Blake when McLean Stevenson left M*A*S*H.
• Spoke often at youth groups and organizations, promoting the acting field.

McLean Stevenson Photos

powered by

Loading...

Previous | Next   (1)