Alan Alda Alan Alda Alan Alda (; born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo; January 28, 1936) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, comedian and author. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner, he played Hawkeye Pierce in the war television series "M*A*S*H" (1972–1983). He has also appeared on television programs such as "Scientific American Frontiers", "The West Wing", and "30 Rock", and in films such as "Same Time, Next Year" (1978) and "Crimes and Misdemeanors" (1989). He also experienced success as a director with 1981's "The Four Seasons". In 2004, Alda was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in
Dreams (M*A*S*H) this episode. Alda credits "Dreams" as one of his favorite "M*A*S*H" episodes. In this surreal episode, the group performs surgery on 211 patients in 33 hours without sleep. The main characters attempt to get whatever rest they can between surgeries, but their dreams offer no relief from the war. Once the marathon of wounded ends, they consider getting some long-deserved sleep. However, Winchester's glib response of "...to sleep, perchance to dream..." (from "Hamlet", Act 3, Scene 1) causes them to reconsider sleep in favor of coffee to stay awake. In a parallel story, a young lieutenant in charge of the