New York City-born actor/comedian/writer/director
who shot to fame as Hawkeye Pierce in m*a*s*h. An
ever-present in the series' n-year run (though he did not
appear in the original film), he gradually became one
of the programme's creative controllers and picked up
Emmys for acting, writing and directing on the show.
Earlier, Alda had filled a satirist's chair on the US version
of that was the week that was and made guest
appearances in the phil silvers show, and the
1960's American dramas The Nurses, The Trials
of O'Brien and Coronet Blue.
Thanks to his extensive cinema work, his TV
appearances have been thin since M*A*S*H ended, but he did
create the sitcom We'll Get By and play Jack Burroughs
in another sitcom he devised, The Four Seasons, based on
his film of the same title. In 1999, he returned to the
small screen as Dr Gabriel Lawrence in
ER. He is the son of actor Robert
Alda.
