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
M*A*S*H (TV series) Larry Linville, Wayne Rogers and Gary Burghoff. Series co-creator and joke writer Larry Gelbart departed after Season 4, the first featuring Mike Farrell and Harry Morgan. This resulted in Farrell and Morgan having only a single season reading scripts featuring Gelbart's masterful comic timing, which defined the feel and rhythm of Seasons 1–4 featuring predecessors Rogers and Stevenson, respectively. Larry Linville (the show's comic foil) and Executive Producer Gene Reynolds both departed at the conclusion of Season 5 in 1977, resulting in "M*A*S*H" being fully stripped of its original tight comedic foundation by the beginning of Season 6 — the