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The Unwise TV Career Decisions of ‘Doris Day Show’ and ‘M*A*S*H’ Actor McLean Stevenson
He had such promise and talent. He was an actor who made his mark in TV shows like The Doris Day Show and M*A*S*H. But then his ego got the best of him. He left M*A*S*H at the top of his game, and he never recovered. One new series failed after the next, with him as the star. And then he died too young. His name was McLean Stevenson, and this is his story.
A Closer Look
McLean Stevenson was a regular on the first few seasons of The Doris Day Show which originally aired on CBS from 1968 to 1973. After the actor left that series, he was cast as Lt. Col. Henry Blake on M*A*S*H, the small-screen adaptation of the big-screen hit. That show originally aired on CBS from 1972 to 1983, but Stevenson exited that war-torn comedy thinking he could make it on his own.
It was a noble thought, and relatively legitimate. But as Harvey Korman found out similarly after he unwisely left The Carol Burnett Show, Stevenson’s talents served him better as being a second banana.
First, Stevenson moved to NBC with The McLean Stevenson Show (1976–1977), a sitcom in which he played a hardware store owner. But that didn’t work.
When that series folded, Stevenson spent four weeks in 1978 as the men’s coach for CBS’s Celebrity…
