Q29: Was Gary Burghoff (Radar) difficult to work with?

A29:  Every now and then, a nasty rumour surfaces on alt.tv.mash regarding
         disputes between crew/cast members, bad attitudes, unprofessional
         conduct, etc.  These seem to be nothing more than rumours though, as
         very reliable sources can attest to the wonderful relationship that the
         people of M*A*S*H had with each other.
	
        The most recent rumour was a claim that Gary Burghoff ("Radar
        O'Reilly") was the hardest person to work with in Hollywood.  Larry
        Gelbart (writer, director and producer of many M*A*S*H episodes, and an
        active participant in the alt.tv.mash newsgroup) quickly squelched the
        rumour by stating the following:

	       "I'm not sure that even those who appreciate the work he did as 
	       Radar (starting with the motion picture) understand what a truly 
	       fine actor he is.  Watch him in any episode and see the way he 
	       listens to his fellow actors (and not everyone does or did this) - 
	       see how he finds a way of helping whoever he's ever doing a scene 
	       with - how inventive he is with little bits of business, and never 
	      distracting from anyone else.  After all this time, I am still in 
	      awe of the fabulous gifts he put at the service of the series."

	      Mike Farrell ("BJ Hunnicut") also felt that the rumour had no merit,
        and he relayed a message to alt.tv.mash to discredit it.  Here is an
        excerpt from his message:

	     "For any group of people to work that closely together in the
	     high stress situation that is a television series for that many
	     years presupposes that there will be disagreements - sometimes big
	     ones.  As Gary has admitted, there were times he behaved in a manner
	     that doesn't make him glow with pride in retrospect.  I wonder how
	     many of us could make the same statement.

      There is no "good source" for such a rumor because there is no
	     validity to it.
	    
     I had the privilege of working with the cast and company for
	    eight years and can attest to the fact that it was very much a
	    family.  As is the case in the best of families, there were some who
	    were more outgoing, some who were better at one thing than another,
	    some who behaved inappropriately at times, but when things got "out
	    of line" or when tensions, for any reason, got to a level that
	    needed to be dealt with, they were dealt with openly, respectfully
	    and appropriately."