Trivia: The photograph of Mildred on Colonel Potter's desk is actually a photo of Harry Morgan's then real wife, Eileen Detchon, to whom he was married for 45 years and who passed away 2 years after the series wrapped.
Trivia: Robert Altman, director of the 1970 film on which the series is based, strongly disliked the show.
Trivia: The pictures painted by Col. Potter throughout the show actually were painted by Harry Morgan, the actor playing Col. Potter, who is an amateur painter in real life.
Suggested correction: According to all sources, Harry Morgan didn't paint the pictures. The prop master hired local talent as needed.
Trivia: "Suicide is Painless", the show's theme song, was a UK No 1 single in 1980. However, the producers couldn't use the original version for a TV series theme due to the nature of the lyrics..
Trivia: Throughout the series, Nurses Able and Baker are often seen or heard of. "Able" and "Baker" stand for the letters A and B in the civilian spelling alphabet, just like Alpha and Bravo do in the Nato spelling alphabet. "Nurse Able" and "Nurse Baker" are just plain old Nurse A and Nurse B - not very creative but whatever works, I guess.
Trivia: Charles is implied to be a bit older than Hawkeye, BJ, and Klinger and is older than Radar by over a decade. In real life. David Ogden Stiers (Charles) and Gary Burghoff (Radar) were the two youngest of the main cast members. They were born less than 7 months apart.
Trivia: After Harry Morgan joined the cast as Col. Sherman T. Potter, the character is shown numerous times painting portraits of the main characters. However, he never painted them. The studio prop master farmed out the work to local talent who was happy for the work. None of those artists have been named.
Suggested correction: This entry is contradictory with another Trivia item which states that Harry Morgan, being an amateur painter in real life, did indeed produce at least some of the paintings.
Trivia: The hat that Alan Alda wears in the opening credits is the same as the one Donald Sutherland wore in the movie.
Trivia: The actor Jeff Maxwell, who played Igor through the series, had his voice dubbed in two episodes by fellow actor Johnny Haymer, who played Sgt. Zale. Season 5: "Mulcahy's War" and season 6: "Fade In, Fade out".
Trivia: Throughout its long run on American television, M*A*S*H employed "canned laughter" (recorded audience laughter used to punctuate humorous lines of dialogue and comedic antics). However, the producers deliberately omitted the canned laughter in every surgery scene, even when the jokes were still flying thick and fast.
Trivia: Jamie Farr (who played the cross-dressing Corporal and later Sergeant Maxwell Klinger) really did serve in the U.S. Army in Japan and Korea for two years, starting in 1955. When he joined the M*A*S*H television series in the 1970s, Jamie Farr wore his actual U.S. Army dog-tags in every appearance.
Trivia: Radar and Franks Burns in real life were just the opposite of the characters they played on the show.
Suggested correction: "Just the opposite"? In what sense? According to whom? Very vague.
What he meant was Larry Linville (Frank Burns), despite playing a nasty, dumb character onscreen, was in fact incredibly sweet and intelligent and loved by the cast. Gary Burghoff (Radar), on the other hand, despite playing a sweet, likeable character, was in fact rude, arrogant and combative with cast members. He apparently didn't enjoy doing the show and wanted out when possible. No one missed him.
