I'm hesitant to say this is the last obit I'll post here in 2016 because we still have more than four hours to go but I want to say something about William Christopher, who made it to the age of 84 before leaving us. You, of course, know him as Father Mulcahy on the TV series, M*A*S*H…and I want to make a point about you knowing him as Father Mulcahy on the TV series, M*A*S*H.
Most people who decide to become actors never become famous and that includes a lot who work constantly. Mr. Christopher might have been one of those actors. He worked a lot — I remember him playing a doctor in The Fortune Cookie with Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon — but he got on M*A*S*H so you know who he was.
His co-star Jamie Farr was another one of those actors. He worked all the time in movies and television for the same reason Christopher did. He was good and he was reliable and those who did the casting knew they could count on him. (In the Doris Day movie, With Six You Get Eggroll, there's a brief scene with two stoned-out hippies. The stoned-out hippies were played by Jamie Farr and William Christopher, years before M*A*S*H.)
If Mr. Christopher hadn't landed the role of Father Mulcahy, he still would have worked a lot and done good work but you'd never be able to explain to people who he was. He'd be "that guy you see on TV all the time."
I never met William Christopher. Our pal Ken Levine who was producer on M*A*S*H, says "A sweeter, nicer, more gentle man you'd never find. He was an absolute pleasure to work with. And he took a thankless role and turned it into a vibrant character." I never heard anyone say otherwise.
So I have no anecdotes about the guy. I just wanted to say I think it's great that he landed the job that led to us all knowing who he was. He deserved it. He was great on that series.