Though Wayne Rogers wasn’t on M*A*S*H for very long, he certainly made quite an impact. Viewers may know Rogers as Trapper John McIntyre. Trapper was a captain, a surgeon, and a close pal to Hawkeye, played by Alan Alda. Though the two characters were frequently pitted against each other by critics and even actors behind the scenes, their friendship was integral to the series.

But even after Rogers left the series after the third season, people continued to remember him as Trapper John.

“When I say I have an all-American persona, that may be true to some extent,” Rogers said during an interview with the Connecticut Post. “I think the public may perceive me as that.”

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The show’s immediate popularity seemed to catch Rogers by surprise. “We never thought it would become what it became,” said the actor. “Even after the first season, we never made the Top 30. The reviews were good, but it was because Freddy Silverman stuck with us that it succeeded.”

Rogers didn’t mind the sort of persona that he had been given, though he admitted the typecasting wasn’t always a good thing. “I think it hurt Carroll O’Connor to play Archie Bunker,” Rogers said of O’Connor’s time on All in the Family. “People began to think he was that way in real life.”

Rogers acknowledged that there was a sort of method to his madness, offering some sage advice to aspiring actors. “If you don’t play an extreme character and play a role fairly close to what you are yourself, I don’t think that it hurts you,” said the actor. “Audiences will have no trouble accepting you in other roles. They view you as an actor and not that person up there on the screen.”