Gary Burghoff

Gary Burghoff Was born May 24, 1943 in Bristol, Conneticut. Gary started acting (and drumming) in high school in Wisconsin. He would later star in the off-Broadway production of You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown.

In 1970 is was cast in the movie M*A*S*H as Radar O’Reilly and later played the same role in the television series. Burghoff was born with a club foot and four short fingers on his left hand. He often used props (such as a clipboard) to conceal his hand. He was also seen with a Teddy Bear and I think he also had different sheets on his bed (not sure if they were animal print bedding or not). The Teddy Bear was put in a time capsule in one of the episodes and was thought to symbolize going to war as a boy and leaving as a man

Burghoff left M*A*S*H after season 7 because he wanted to spend more time with his family. He did return on season 8 to film the episode “Goodbye Radar”. After M*A*S*H he appeared in a few game shows frequently and had a short lived television series.

Gary is also a professional jazz drummer with the trio The We Three and is a wildlife painter. He is also an avid stamp collector and stars in a video about stamp collecting for the US Postal Service.

Burghoff has been married twice and has three children. He resides in Paradise, California where he appears in TV advertisements for local doctors.