Wayne Rogers^†

He didn't plan on being Trapper John. Rogers walked into the M*A*S*H audition intending to try for Hawkeye, found the character too dark, and asked to screen test as his less cynical tent-mate instead. That pivot made him a household name for three seasons. Then he walked. The writers were steering the best material toward Alan Alda, and when producers sued him for breach of contract after his exit, the case collapsed because he'd never actually signed one. The show brought in Mike Farrell as B.J. Hunnicutt and ran for eight more seasons without him.

The acting career was almost a side hustle by the end. Rogers started investing during his M*A*S*H years, and by the time Hollywood moved on, he didn't need the work. He ran Wayne M. Rogers & Co., managing money for Hollywood names including Peter Falk. He chaired Kleinfeld Bridal, the famous Manhattan wedding dress emporium, and operated Stop-N-Save convenience stores across the Southeast. In 1988 and 1990, he testified before the House Judiciary Committee as a banking law expert. The acting was always the more interesting chapter. His investment portfolio turned out to be the more important one.

Rogers had a Princeton history degree and a Navy commission before any of the acting. He trained under Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse, not the typical pipeline for network sitcom leads. After M*A*S*H, he picked up a Golden Globe nomination for House Calls in 1981 and played civil rights attorney Morris Dees in Ghosts of Mississippi in 1996. He received a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2005. Princeton, the Neighborhood Playhouse, and a Southeast convenience store chain are not a biography anyone predicted.

His publicist and longtime friend Rona Menashe announced his death to the Associated Press. His obituary ran in The New York Times on January 4, 2016, with NBC News specifically noting his parallel reputation as a leading investor alongside his acting career. He was survived by his wife Amy, children Bill and Laura, and four grandchildren.