Wayne Rogers, RIP

Sad news last night of the passing of actor Wayne Rogers, best known to readers of a certain age as Trapper John on MASH in the 1970s. Rogers left the hit show after just three seasons, and in later life became a highly successful investor. Among other things, he’s the impresario behind “Say ‘Yes’ to the Dress” on TLC. During these years he became a conservative, often appearing on the Fox Business channel to discuss the economy and investments.

Wayne RogersI got to know him a little at a small conference we both attended several years ago high up in the mountains outside of Bozeman, Montana. At the end of the conference we shared a car to the airport, and had a leisurely breakfast when both of our flights were delayed, where he was happy to answer all of my questions about his Hollywood and subsequent business career. Most interesting were his tales of the genius of Larry Gelbart, the creator and producer of MASH, who could fix a flat script in about 30 minutes of manic re-writing. (Makes me think Gelbart could have been a pretty good blogger!)

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