‘M*A*S*H’ Star Jamie Farr Revealed the Other Project He’s Most Proud of Besides Classic Show
He is known for portraying the cross-dressing corporal Maxwell Q. Klinger on the hit CBS sitcom M*A*S*H, but Jamie Farr admits there is another project he’s most proud of besides the war comedy-drama series.
During an interview with We Are The Mighty, the M*A*S*H star says the film The Blackboard Jungle was his proudest project. Farr explains that the film had Glenn Ford and Sidney Poitier and was all filmed at MGM. According to IMDb, the film follows an English teacher at a violent, unruly inner-city school. The teacher continues to focus on doing his job despite dealing with resistance between both the students and faculty. The film premiered in 1955 and was the debut film for Farr.
“I was watching MGM movies at the Lowe’s Valentine Theater in my hometown theater (Toledo, Ohio). And 18 months later, I am working on an MGM film,” Jamie Farr recalls. He also reflects on his early projects, including working in theater. “I played in King Lear at the Pasadena Playhouse as the title character, which was challenging,” Farr explains. He then says that did more theater at the Pasadena Playhouse. His first big play was Mister Roberts at the Los Palmas Theater.
“I play the Navy guard that brings all the guys back when they are drunk in the play,” the M*A*S*H star adds.
Jamie Farr Reflects On His Experience Working With the ‘M*A*S*H’ Cast
Also during the interview, Jamie Farr discusses his experience working with the M*A*S*H cast. “Harvey [Korman] was great and we got to work with Danny, Kaye, who also was great,” Jamie states. He then says Alan Alda, Gary Burgoff, Mike Farrell, Loretta Swift, Harry Morgan, William Christopher, and David Ogden Stiers were all great to work with as well.
“You could not have asked for better than the one on M*A*S*H,” Farr states. “And we had such excellent material as well. We are still in touch even this long after the show.”
Jamie Farr also confirms that there were no ego issues on the set of M*A*S*H. “The egos didn’t get into the way on the show where the story was not about me it was about the particular scene we were doing.”
Jamie says the cameos he does now have people coming up to him all the time and telling them they actually watched M*A*S*H and how much it meant to them. “It is amazing I happened to be on a series that was the best show you could do.”
Farr goes on to add, “Some people are average and make it to the top of the industry. All I can say is what a lucky guy I am.”
M*A*S*H premiered in September of 1972. It ran to 11 seasons (256 episodes) before ending its run in February of 1983.
