ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 17, 1996 TAG: 9602190047
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DALLAS MORNING NEWS
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
McLean Stevenson, who played the bumbling Lt. Col. Henry Blake on ``M*A*S*H,'' died Friday of a heart attack at a Los Angeles hospital. He was 66.
Stevenson, a cousin of two-time Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson, won a Golden Globe award and an Emmy nomination as the lecherous commanding officer in one of television's all-time acclaimed series. But he decided to leave ``M*A*S*H'' in 1975 after three seasons in hopes of becoming a bigger star in his own right.
``I'm tired of being one of six. I want to be one of one,'' he told TV Guide at the time.
Instead, he became identified with a string of flops, most notably the NBC sitcom ``Hello, Larry,'' where he played a radio talk show host. Viewers also rejected him as a priest in CBS' ``In the Beginning'' and as a bigot in ABC's ``Condo.''
Born in Bloomington, Ill., Stevenson was late in coming to show business. He worked as a medical supplies salesman, insurance clerk, seaman and assistant director of athletics at Northwestern University before drifting into acting at age 31.
After small guest shots in TV series ranging from ``The Defenders'' to ``Car 54, Where Are You?,'' Stevenson became a writer for ``That Was the Week That Was'' and ``The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.'' He resumed acting on CBS' ``The Doris Day Show,'' where he spent two seasons as magazine editor Michael Nicholson. Then came ``M*A*S*H.''
His decision to leave the series led to one of its most poignant moments. Discharged and en route home from the Korean War, Col. Blake's plane went down in the Sea of Japan. Writers waited until the day of shooting to inform the cast of their decision to kill off Stevenson's character. The stunned reactions on-camera were hardly an act.
LENGTH: Short : 44 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: McLean Stevenson\Was Col. Blake on M*A*S*Hby CNB