Wild audition stories are a dime a dozen in Hollywood, but McLean Stevenson's "M*A*S*H" casting is one of the stranger bits of classic sitcom mythology. According to casting director Eddie Foy III (per MeTV), the actor who would go on to play beloved buffoon Colonel Henry Blake for three seasons of the long-running series first earned the part in an especially roundabout way. The casting department didn't simply have Stevenson audition but instead put him in an entirely different TV movie to get him on executive producer Gene Reynolds' radar.
"I remember McLean Stevenson, I got McLean to do [the series]," Foy recalled in an interview with the Archive of American Television. "In fact," he continued, "we snuck him in on a picture called 'Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones,' where he played an eccentric minister, and we showed it to Gene Reynolds. He said, 'I love the guy.
"I remember McLean Stevenson, I got McLean to do [the series]," Foy recalled in an interview with the Archive of American Television. "In fact," he continued, "we snuck him in on a picture called 'Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones,' where he played an eccentric minister, and we showed it to Gene Reynolds. He said, 'I love the guy.
- 1/23/2024
- by Valerie Ettenhofer
- Slash Film
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