William Christopher, Actor Who Played Father Mulcahy on 'MASH,' Dies at 84

William Christopher, best known for his role as the gentle Father Mulcahy on the legendary TV series M*A*S*H, died Saturday at the age of 84. He was born in Evanston, grew up in Glencoe, and graduated from New Trier High School in Winnetka.

Christopher died at his home in Pasadena, California, succumbing to non-lung small cell carcinoma, his family confirmed to various news outlets. He was surrounded by family.

He played Father Francis John Patrick Mulcahy on M*A*S*H from 1972 to 1983 and continued the part in the series After M*A*S*H* for two more years. He also had parts in the movies The Fortune Cookie and With Six You Get Eggroll.

He was born in Evanston on Oct. 20, 1932. His first stage role was in the third grade when he appeared as a groundhog in a school performance at Central School in Glencoe. After high school, he attended college in Connecticut, majoring in drama and performing in the glee club. He met his wife, Barbara, on a blind date while in school. They had two sons, John and Ned. He is survived by his wife and sons.

He performed in New York theater productions, and then made his way to Hollywood for television. He won spots on The Andy Griffith Show, Death Valley Days, The Patti Duke Show, The Men From Shiloh, Gomer Pyle USMC, That Girl and Hogan's Heroes. Later in Life, he appeared on Murder, She Wrote, Mad About You and Days of Our Lives, according to his IMDB profile page.

But Christopher was best known for playing the lovable, blushing, boxing Irish priest and U.S. Army chaplain, Father Mulcahy.

The role of Father Mulcahy was originally intended to be an occasional one, but Christopher's portrayal proved to be such a delightful counterpoint to the hard-drinking, sex-crazed doctors played by Alan Alda, Wayne Rogers and Mike Farrell that the spiritual adviser of the 4077th MASH unit became a series regular.

Some of the show's most memorable episodes featured Father Mulcahy, according to a MASH fan site:

Outside surgery, the priest gradually gained the respect of the staff with his emerging courage and wisdom in the most difficult circumstances. This included when he had to perform an emergency tracheotomy (using a Tom Mix pocketknife and an eyedropper) while under enemy fire, and disarming a desperate soldier holding him at gunpoint. (He also persuaded Corporal Klinger to hand over a live grenade, when Klinger wanted to get rid of the overbearing Major Burns, in an early episode.) Mulcahy often provided critical advice to Hawkeye, and other members of the company. Hawkeye in turn consoled Mulcahy more than once when his spirits were down, such as when, in frustration, Mulcahy punched a patient who had struck him while resisting his efforts to calm him. Hawkeye told him "We have to stand here and watch so much misery, we're lucky we don't all join hands and walk into a chopper blade."

Here are a few of his most memorable lines, too:

"This isn't one of my sermons; I expect you to listen."

"Klinger, how'd you like the last rites...and a few lefts!"

"I think the world of Colonel Potter. He's a good Christian - yet hardly dull at all."

"Remember what the good book says: Love thy neighbor, or I'll punch your lights out!"

Christopher returned to Illinois in 2008 to play the role of Pastor E.L. Gunderson in the musical comedy Church Basement Ladies at North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie. In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times that year ahead of his Skokie performance, Christopher reflected on his iconic role as Father Mulcahy

"I've had wonderful success after MASH was over playing in regional theater. And because of MASH's fame, I'm sure it's helped me get jobs, and I have been playing very different kinds of characters. I've done a lot of British farce, and I like that. ... It just happens that I'm playing this part. When I saw the script of this show I was a little bowled over, because there's always a descriptive thing the authors will write about the characters. And when it described this Pastor Gunderson that I play in Church Basement Ladies, it said he's sort of like Father Mulcahy. So I thought, "This is really a part I ought to play."

main photo, public domain: Cast photo from M*A*S*H for 1977. (Front row from left) Loretta Swit, Harry Morgan, Alan Alda, Mike Farrell. (Back row from left) William Christopher, Gary Burghoff, David Ogden Stiers, and Jamie Farr.