M*A*S*H*'s "Trapper John," Wayne Rogers, Dead at 82

Wayne Rogers, the actor best known for playing Army surgeon Capt. John "Trapper John" McIntyre on M*A*S*H* for three seasons, has died from complications from pneumonia, according to his publicist. He was 82.

Rogers left the show after three seasons in 1975, citing contract disputes. The actor felt that Alan Alda's character, "Hawkeye" Pierce, was increasingly the focus of the show. (Rogers was first asked to audition for Hawkeye, but he preferred Trapper John's sunnier outlook.) "If I had known that the show was going to run that long," he reportedly said, "I probably would have kept my mouth shut and stayed put."

He turned down the lead role in the TV spin-off Trapper John, M.D. (the role went to Pernell Roberts), fearing he'd be typecast as a physician. Later, he received a Golden Globe nomination for playing one on the CBS comedy House Calls.

After leaving M*A*S*H*, he continued to guest-star on television, including in the Larry Hagman role in the TV movie I Dream of Jeannie... Fifteen Years Later and on five episodes of Murder, She Wrote.

The Alabama native graduated from Princeton with a degree in history in 1954 and served in the U.S. Navy, where he became involved in theater.

Before M*A*S*H*, Rogers had small roles in several Off Broadway plays and in the films The Odds Against Tomorrow, The Glory Guys and Cool Hand Luke and on the TV shows Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Gunsmoke, The Fugitiveand The Big Valley.

Later in life, Rogers became a financial consultant and author, who appeared as a guest several times on the Fox Business Network program Cashin' In and wrote an investment guide titled Make Your Own Rules.

He is survived by his wife Amy Hirsh, two children, Bill and Laura and four grandchildren.