Larry Linville is best known for playing weasel-like Major Frank Burns on the esteemed, long-running series M*A*S*H*. He began his career as a supporting actor in the pilot for the television series Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969) and made his feature-film debut in Jack Lemmon's Kotch (1971). Linville left M*A*S*H in 1977 after appearing on it for five years. Since then he appeared in low-budget films such as Rock and Roll High School Forever (1990) and Body Waves (1991). Linville also continued working on television in series such as Grandpa Goes to Washington (1978-1979) and Herbie the Love Bug (1982) and as a guest star in other series. Linville's stage appearances included a Broadway stint in Travels With My Aunt, though in the '90s, he was more likely to appear in dinner theater.
Larry Linville
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- Studied aeronautical engineering in college, but switched to acting when he failed a color-blindness test.
- Grandfather was an army surgeon during World War I.
- First wife Kate Geer is the daughter of Waltons actor Will Geer.
- Left the hit series M*A*S*H after five seasons because he felt the show was moving away from comedy to drama and his character, Major Frank Burns, no longer fit in.