The Classic Show's 5 Most Memorable Guest Stars

While viewers over the years have fallen in love with the main cast members of M*A*S*H, there were plenty of guest stars. Boy howdy, were there guest stars. It’s interesting if you are a fan or casual viewer of the reruns that you will see someone pop up. And it might be someone you know from another TV show or movie or something like that.

A number of guest stars had recurring appearances on the CBS sitcom. For us, though, let’s take a look at five stars who had memorable guest appearances on the show.

Ron Howard

In the show’s first season, Howard appeared in a M*A*S*H episode titled Sometimes You Hear The Bullet. Howard plays Walter Peterson, who is an underaged soldier. He ends up being treated by “Hawkeye” Pierce, played by Alan Alda.

When Hawkeye learns that Peterson is underage, he thinks about turning him in. But another soldier’s death gives Hawkeye a reason to second guess himself. He decides to send Peterson home from the war. When this episode first aired in 1973, Howard was back in film school.

John Ritter

Ritter played Private Carter in a second-season M*A*S*H episode. He played a wounded soldier in Post-Op and tells Frank Burns that he’s not going to go back to the front. We see Carter get agitated when observing Burns’ own brand of American patriotism. Carter interrupted a late-night poker game by shooting a gun.

In this episode, we also see psychiatrist Sidney Friedman in the 4077th. It’s Sidney who settles Carter down. It’s not much longer after this episode that we’ll see Ritter back on TV as Jack in Three’s Company.