Posted on 04/23/2013 11:36:04 AM PDT by ConservativeStatement
Allan Arbus, who played psychiatrist Maj. Sidney Freedman on "M*A*S*H," died Friday at home in Los Angeles, his daughter Amy confirmed to The New York Times. He was 95.
Abrus, who had served as a military photography in the Army and ran a fashion photography business before becoming an actor, was so convincing in his role as Maj. Freedman, that co-star Alan Alda often found himself opening up to Arbus.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/04/23/mash-allan-arbus-dead-at-95/#ixzz2RJSqWJIN
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
RIP Mr.Arbus
“I’m not going out there without a bullet-proof couch.”
Great actor. Maybe my favorite character on MASH. I had no idea he had been married to Diane Arbus.
Yes he does. Harry Morgan looked like he was about 70 in the show.
And yet Klinger stayed in Korea.
That may be due to Harry not being able to use Just for Men on his scalp. :)
IIRC his chracter became so popular he was put in the final show even though he wasn’t a regular.
True enough. Alda was directing all the shows by then, I believe. And Hawkeye going off his nut was a pretty predictable plot device. I really didn’t like the final episode very much.
He also did an underground movie called Putney Swope in the late 60’s about a black radical who gets himself elected Chairman of the Board at a Madison Avenue ad agency. (”We all voted for Swope. We each thought nobody else would!)
As for Alda, I know he's a liberal but I've always liked him in movies. I absolutely loved him in Crimes and Misdemeanors.
Yeah. I also remember him from the Pam Grier blaxploitation flick “Coffy.” He plays the complete Anti-Sidney in that one, and Grier shoots him at the end.
He was one of my faves great character had no idea he was that old Alan Alda can go suck barnacles of the queen mary for all i care
Didn’t know that. I can hear him saying that quote!
He didn’t play Sydney Freedman, he WAS Sydney Freedman.
In his earlier career he worked with Robert Downey, Sr. in the extraordinary movies “Putney Swope” and “Greaser’s Palace”.
Putney Swope (1969) is a bizarre comedy of how a token black leftist executive is accidentally propelled to the presidency of a major advertising agency, and takes it fully leftist retard to the point where the US government considers it a threat to national security.
Gee, now what does that remind you of?
Greaser’s Palace (1972) is almost beyond description, of Arbus as Jesus in a Zoot Suit, descending by parachute into an old West mining town ruled by a constipated ruthless brute. It goes surreal so hard and fast that you really cannot grasp it on the first viewing. Most people who see it hate it, because they have no clue what is going on.
Trying to draw parallels from it to the story of Jesus is the key, but extremely hard, yet you realize that there is something there, some real brilliance.
In the case of either movie, alcohol is a big help in seeing the big picture. Growing up around this must have really had an impact on Robert Downey, Jr.
While the main character in Howard the Duck was forgettable, you have to agree that the young Lea Thompson was toothsome and that Jeffrey Jones was okay as the bad guy. In box office they just about broke even with foreign plus domestic, and maybe made some more on dvd sales.
Col Flagg was pretty damn funny also.
Cpl. Walter 'Radar' O'Reilly: [intimidated] No.
Colonel Flagg: Good. It hasn't been invented... yet.
Source: IMDB.
Great actor, great part.
We never missed MASH. Even my Dad who was confirmedly against most all TV shows would take time to sit down with us to watch MASH... even the Re-runs when we got older.
Alda was a bleeding heart and pushed the script over the top often to make some “war is hell” point but almost all the other actors and characters were outstanding. The supporting roles were often better than the stars.
“The Wind?”
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