Trapper John McIntyre

Encyclopedia : T : TR : TRA : Trapper John McIntyre

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M*A*S*H character
Trapper John McIntyre
Rank	Captain
Gender	Male
Hair color	Black (in the film)/Reddish-Blond (in the television series)
Eye color	Brown
Home city	Boston, Massachusetts, USA
MASH (film)>Film portrayer	Elliott Gould
M*A*S*H (TV series)>Television portrayer	Wayne Rogers (for M*A*S*H) Pernell Roberts (for Trapper John, M.D.)
First appearance	M*A*S*H: A Novel About Three Army Doctors

"Trapper" John Francis Xavier McIntyre, is a character in Richard Hooker's M*A*S*H novels.

"The only man who ever took a piece in the ladies' can of a Boston & Maine train", McIntyre was depicted by

• Elliott Gould in the film M*A*S*H,
• Wayne Rogers in the television series M*A*S*H, and
• Pernell Roberts in the television series Trapper John, M.D.

In the book and the film, Trapper John is a thoracic surgeon and the 4077th's Chief Surgeon. In the film, he had a very dry, sardonic deadpan sense of humor, while in the M*A*S*H TV series he was something of a class clown. Trapper spent much of his time on the series playing Ethel to Hawkeye Pierce's Lucy, and partaking in playing practical jokes on the two majors, Frank Burns and Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan. Trapper did spend considerable time fraternizing with the nurses, even though he apparently did love his wife and two daughters.

In "Mail Call" [2/23/74], Trapper is attacked by home sickness and a longing to see his family. After getting drunk, he packs his duffle bag and tries to go AWOL, even knocking Hawkeye, who apparently is much weaker than Trapper physically, to the ground with his duffle bag. Frank then shows up and the slightly drunk Trapper gets caught up in lampooning him.

At one point, Trapper tried to adopt a Korean orphan ("Kim" [10/20/73), and was slightly crushed when he found out that the boy's mother was still alive.

On two separate occasions, Hot Lips drunkenly professed how Trapper's sturdy frame, crooked smile, and curly hair appealed to her. After the first incident ("Hot Lips and Empty Arms" [12/15/73]), he teased her at breakfast by telling her that "last night" (when he and Hawkeye were sobering her up in the shower) meant a lot to him and he wanted to know she was not "playing games".

Though he was easy going and a jokester, he also had a dark side. This was demonstrated in "Radar's Report" [10/29/73] when a patient he was trying to save died in part because a wounded POW destroyed the last bottle of blood the patient deseparately needed. Trapper was so enraged that he confronted the bedridden POW in a threatening manner, with serious thoughts of murdering him in retaliation for the loss of his patient. Hawkeye was able to stop him before he did anything though, gently reminding that as a physician, he was there to save lives, not take them.

Wayne Rogers was told when he accepted the role of Trapper for the TV series that Trapper and Hawkeye would be equally important, almost interchangeable. However, that changed radically when Alan Alda was cast as Hawkeye. By the end of the third season, Rogers was fed up with the fact that Trapper was being treated as a sidekick instead of an equal. Even though the latter half of the third season started to flesh Trapper out a bit, Rogers departed the series.

In the period between the two television series', the character matured considerably, becoming a more sedate part of the medical establishment. Much of the story line of Trapper John, M.D. revolves around the relationship between the Korean War veteran Trapper John and Dr. George "Gonzo" Gates, who had served in a MASH unit in Vietnam and exhibited some of the personality traits Trapper John had had when he was younger.

External links

• [Finest-Kind.net] - M*A*S*H website with character profile
• [Best Care Anywhere] - M*A*S*H website with character profile

M*A*S*H

Film: MASH TV series: M*A*S*H | Trapper John, M.D. | AfterM*A*S*H | W*A*L*T*E*R Characters: Hawkeye Pierce | Trapper John McIntyre | Duke Forrest | B.J. Hunnicutt | Henry Blake | Sherman T. Potter | Frank Burns | Margaret Houlihan | Charles Winchester | Radar O'Reilly | Father Mulcahy | Maxwell Klinger | Igor Straminsky | Sidney Freedman | Col. Flagg | Spearchucker Jones | Ugly John | Walter Koskiusko Waldowski | Ho-Jon | Lieutenant Dish | Donald Penobscot Episodes: Season 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 Books: | M*A*S*H Goes to Maine | M*A*S*H Goes to Paris | M*A*S*H Goes to New Orleans | M*A*S*H Goes to London | M*A*S*H Goes to Vienna | M*A*S*H Goes to San Francisco | M*A*S*H Goes to Morocco | M*A*S*H Goes to Miami | M*A*S*H Goes to Las Vegas | M*A*S*H Goes to Hollywood | M*A*S*H Mania | M*A*S*H Goes to Texas | M*A*S*H Goes to Moscow | M*A*S*H Goes to Montreal Related material: Continuity errors and anachronisms | Guest stars

 

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