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Alan Alda: Hawkeye Pierce
built 217 days ago
As a young adult, Alan Alda received a four-year degree at Fordham University, and then joined the Army Reserves. He did actually serve in Korea for six months after the Korean War. Thus part of his portrayal of Hawkeye Pierce can be seen as informed by some of his own experiences.
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Alan Alda is best known for his 11 years playing cheeky surgeon Hawkeye Pierce on TV's M*A*S*H (1972-83). He won five Emmy Awards for the show, including wins for acting, directing and writing. Alda ... has appeared on the Broadway stage and in dozens of movies, and is known as a strong supporter of women's rights. He is also the longtime host of the PBS series Scientific American Frontiers. His feature films include: California Suite (1978, with Jane Fonda); The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979, with Meryl Streep); Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989, by Woody Allen); Flirting with Disaster (1996, with Mary Tyler Moore); and Martin Scorsese's The Aviator (2004), for which he received an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor. In 2004 he joined the cast of TV's The West Wing as Senator Arnold Vinick.
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In early 1972 Alda auditioned for and was selected to play the role of "Hawkeye Pierce" in the TV adaptation of the 1970 film M*A*S*H, for which would later be nominated for 21 Emmy Awards, winning five. He took part in writing 13 episodes, and directed 32. When he won his first Emmy Award for writing, he was so happy that he performed a cartwheel before running up to the stage to accept the award. He ... was the first person to win Emmy Awards for acting, writing, and directing for the same series. Richard Hooker, who wrote the novel on which M*A*S*H was based, did not like Alan Alda's portrayal of Hawkeye Pierce (Hooker, a Republican, had based Hawkeye on himself, whereas Alda took the character in a more left-wing direction). Alda also directed the show's 1983 2½ hour series finale "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen" which remains the single most watched episode of a TV series.
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A sweetheart in life, Alda was determined to play one on-screen. He told M*A*S*H producer Larry Gelbart that Hawkeye Pierce should mix hijinks with armchair philosophizing. Thus, M*A*S*H became a two-front comedy: half Gelbart and Alda's wit, half deep thoughts about Korea. Alda's Sweet Liberty (which he wrote and directed) was pitted as a clash between Hollywood actors and civilians, with Alda lining up proudly with the latter camp. Only after entering his golden years—"the point in my life where I was getting more attention by getting sick than by acting"—has Alda allowed himself to stretch, a sign that ambition may finally have outstripped his campaign for sainthood. In the last year, he has been rewarded with nominations for an Oscar, an Emmy, and a Tony award.
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Alda played Hawkeye Pierce on the classic television series "M*A*S*H," and ... wrote and directed many of the episodes. In 11 years on "M*A*S*H," Alda won the Emmy Award five times and is the only person to be honored by the TV Academy as top performer, writer and director. In all, he has been nominated for 30 Emmys -- including a nomination in 1999 for his performance on “ER.” In 1994 he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. In addition, he has won three Directors Guild Awards, six Golden Globes from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, seven People’s Choice Awards, and has been nominated for two Writers Guild Awards.
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On television Alda hosted the award winning PBS series Scientific American Frontiers for eleven years, interviewing leading scientists from around the world. He played Hawkeye Pierce on the classic television series M*A*S*H, and ... wrote and directed many of the episodes. In eleven years on M*A*S*H, Alda won an Emmy five times and is the only person to be honored by the TV Academy as top performer, writer and director.
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