Wayne M. Rogers (born April 7, 1933, Birmingham, Alabama) is an American film and television actor, best known for playing the role of 'Trapper John' McIntyre in the long-running U.S. television series, M*A*S*H. He succeeded Elliott Gould, who had played the character in the movie, and was succeeded later by Pernell Roberts on the M*A*S*H spin-off Trapper John, M.D..
Rogers is a graduate of Webb School in Bell Buckle, Tennessee. He also graduated from Princeton University with a history degree in 1954, where he was a member of the Princeton Triangle Club, and served in the U.S. Navy before becoming an actor. He has been married twice; first from 1960 to 1979 (fathering two children), then to Amy Hirsh, from 1988 to the present.
Prior to the role of 'Trapper John,' Rogers appeared on television in The F.B.I., Gunsmoke, and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., The Fugitive , and had a small role in the 1967 movie Cool Hand Luke. He had also been a co-star with Robert Bray and Richard Eyer in the western series Stagecoach West, a Four Star Television production on ABC from 1960-1961.
When Rogers was approached for M*A*S*H, he planned to audition as Hawkeye Pierce. However, he found the character too cynical and asked to screen test as 'Trapper John,' whose outlook was brighter. Rogers was told that Trapper and Hawkeye would have equal importance as characters. This changed after Alan Alda, whose acting career and resume up to that point had outshone that of Rogers, was cast as Hawkeye, and proved to be more popular with the audience. Rogers did, however, still enjoy working with Alda and the rest of cast as a whole (Alda and Rogers would quickly become close friends), but eventually chafed that the writers were devoting the show's best humorous and dramatic moments to Alda.
When the writers took the liberty of making Hawkeye a thoracic surgeon in the episode "Dear Dad" (December 17, 1972) even though Trapper was the unit's only thoracic surgeon in the movie and the novel, Rogers felt Trapper was stripped of his credentials.
On the M*A*S*H* 30th Anniversary Reunion Television Special aired by FOX-TV in 2002, Rogers once spoke on the differences between the "Hawkeye" and "Trapper" characters, "Alan (Alda) and I both used to discuss ways on how to distinguish the differences between the two characters as to where there would be a variance...my character (Trapper John McIntyre) was a little more impulsive (than Hawkeye)".
After three seasons, Rogers grew weary of the Trapper character being treated as more of a sidekick than an equal to Hawkeye, and decided to leave the show (as had McLean Stevenson, who had played Colonel Blake). He also disliked the "morals clause" in his contract, which stated he could be suspended or fired if he did anything the producers found objectionable, and refused to accept it unless they signed a similar clause for him. When Rogers left M*A*S*H he was sued for breach of contract. The case was later dismissed, however, when it was revealed that he had never even signed the contract in the first place due to the clause issue.
Rogers admitted later he regretted leaving M*A*S*H in light of how long it stayed in production: "If I had known it would run that long (the show lasted 11 seasons), I probably would have kept my mouth shut and stayed put." (Former cast member McLean Stevenson later echoed Rogers' statements as well). Despite his acrimonious departure, Rogers has participated in retrospectives of the show, including Memories of M*A*S*H in 1992 and the M*A*S*H 30th Anniversary Reunion.
Later he appeared as a Federal agent in the critically acclaimed 1975 NBC-TV movie Attack on Terror: The FBI vs. the Ku Klux Klan, and as civil rights attorney Morris Dees in 1996's Ghosts of Mississippi. He also starred in the short-lived but critically lauded 1976 series City of Angels and the 1979-1982 series CBS's House Calls with Lynn Redgrave, and guest-starred five times on CBS's Murder, She Wrote. He has served as an executive producer and producer in both television and film, a screenwriter, and a director. In addition, he has achieved some recognition as an investor, appearing frequently on Fox News Channel business shows. He also starred in Race Against The Harvest.
Rogers as panelist on Fox Business Channel's Cashin' In
Rogers, who began to test the stock and real estate markets during his tenure as a cast member on the TV show M*A*S*H, is a regular panel member on the FOX News stock investment television program Cashin' In. In August 2006, Rogers was elected to the Board of Directors of Vishay Intertechnology, Inc., a Fortune 1000 manufacturer of semiconductors and electronic components. He is also the head of Wayne Rogers & Co., a stocks trade investment corporation.
