Larry Linville was born on September 29, 1939 in Ojai, California, USA as Larry Lavon Linville. He was an actor, known for M*A*S*H (1972), Earth Girls Are Easy (1988) and Rock 'n' Roll High School Forever (1991). He was married to Deborah Guydon, Susan Hagan, Melissa Gallant, Vana Tribbey and Kate Geer. He died on April 10, 2000 in New York City, ...
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, University of Colorado Boulder
Nationality
American
Spouse
Kate Geer child
Children
Kelly Linville
Parents
Fay Pauline Kennedy, Harry Lavon Linville
Movies
Earth Girls Are Easy, The Night Stalker, Rock 'n' Roll High School Forever, C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D., School Spirit, Blue Movies, Body Waves, The Stepmother, Kotch, No Dessert, Dad, till You Mow the Lawn, The Misery Brothers, Night Partners, Pressure Point
TV Shows
Paper Dolls, M*A*S*H, Herbie, the Love Bug, Checking In, Grandpa Goes to Washington, Mannix
Star Sign
Libra
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Quote
1
[about playing Frank Burns] On the one side he was just kind of silly and stupid and on the other side you have the danger of being very repulsive and ugly so you must balance that so that it is believable enough to serve the comedy.
2
[about Frank Burns] Some people have said 'Why didn't the role progress? Why didn't he become more understanding, more humane, more compassionate, more sensitive?' I said 'What did you want him to be Alan Alda?'
3
[on contracting cancer]: "I was scared. It wasn't like drinking. You could give up the bottle. You can't give up the big C."
4
(when asked whom he'd based his infamous Frank Burns character on) "Every idiot I've ever known."
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Fact
1
Attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art from 1959 - 1961. His fellow classmates included future actors Ian McShane, David Warner, and John Hurt.
2
Admitted in a TV Guide interview in the 1970s that he was a lifelong insomniac, sleeping only a few hours every several days.
3
Spent eight years in repertory with the Association of Producing Artists in New York, the Barter Theater in Virginia and the San Diego Shakespeare Festival.
4
His lifelong hobby was designing and flying gliders.
Frequently played stuffed-shirt characters; an interesting exception was when he appeared as a wise, all-powerful genie on Fantasy Island (1977).
8
The nickname "ferret face", that was used to describe his "Frank Burns" M*A*S*H (1972) character, was coined up by his own brother.
9
Chose not to renew his M*A*S*H (1972) contract because "I felt I had done everything possible with the character" of Frank Burns. Said later that the fifth season (his last) had been hardest for him, since Frank no longer had Loretta Swit's character Hot Lips on his side, leaving him to bear the brunt of the insults alone. Even stopped attending dailies, because Linville was tired of seeing his character as the butt of so many jokes.
10
Stated in a 1990s People magazine "Where are they now?" feature about TV doctors that he had no regrets about leaving M*A*S*H (1972) six years before it ended.
11
Contrary to his much-maligned character Frank Burns, Linville was actually well-liked by his M*A*S*H (1972) cast-mates. He and Gary Burghoff were close friends off the show; Burghoff described Linville as a "renaissance man" who knew about the intricacies of the Egyptian pyramids and who once even built and flew his own airplane. Alan Alda also remembered Linville fondly, after his death.
12
Linville and actor David Ogden Stiers, who'd played Major Winchester, were both VIP guests at the ceremonial closing of the last active M*A*S*H unit in Korea, in the 1990s. Ironically, Stiers had replaced Linville on the show, and neither they nor their characters had ever met - but Winchester's last comment in the last regular episode had been about Major Burns.
13
Selected to appear opposite Ingrid Bergman on Broadway because, he said, he was one of the few actors tall enough to play opposite her.
14
After college, he applied for a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, England; he was one of three Americans out of 300 applicants to win.
$19 Million
