Wayne Rogers Dead at 82

Wayne Rogers

Wayne Rogers, Broadway producer, Fox News contributor and original star of the iconic CBS comedy series M*A*S*H,died Thursday, his publicist Rona Menashe told Reuters. He was 82.

Rogers died of complications from pneumonia in Los Angeles, Menashe said.

Rogers' Trapper John was one half of M*A*S*H's lead tandem of joke-cracking physicians in the early seasons of CBS' Korean War comedy-drama, paired with Alan Alda's Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce. But Rogers left the series in a contract dispute the mid-70s, his character written off as having been discharged, replaced by Mike Farrell's B.J. Hunnicut.

Rogers played numerous other TV and movie roles, including a turn as San Francisco surgeon Charley Michaels in the TV comedy House Calls from 1979 to 1982. In 1959, he played Slim Davis on the CBS daytime soap opera Search for Tomorrow.

Rogers also was a businessman, investing in ventures such as a film-distribution company and wine-making and bridal businesses.