MASH's Biggest Shock Death Was Spoiled Months In Advance (But Absolutely Nobody Noticed)
Nobody was expecting Henry Blake's death on MASH - even after it had been spoiled months in advance. While the show was intended to be an ensemble, Alan Alda's Hawkeye quickly emerged as the lead character. This led several MASH actors to exit early, including Wayne Rogers and McLean Stevenson. Neither actor had any beef with Alda himself, but they felt their roles diminished in favor of serving Hawkeye. Stevenson and Wayne Rogers left MASH after the third season, and the impact of the former's exit changed TV forever.
Stevenson's Blake was the lovable if not entirely competent original commander of the 4077th. It speaks to Stevenson's talent that even in an ensemble that featured Alda, Gary Burghoff and Loretta Swit, he still made a big impression. Stevenson eventually tired of conditions on MASH and was lured out of the sitcom by an offer from another network. Not even Stevenson knew of Blake's shock death in the MASH season 3 finale, where the character was killed in an offscreen plane crash. His fate wasn't a total secret, though.
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Henry Blake's MASH Death Was Spoiled Months Before The Episode Aired
Several newspapers revealed Henry Blake's tragic fate
The season 3 finale, "Abyssinia, Henry," was scripted to end with Blake saying goodbye to the 4077th and heading home. It was only as the cast and crew wrapped Stevenson's final scene and looked ahead to the wrap party that showrunner Larry Gelbart produced a final page. This is when the cast first learned of Blake's death, with Stevenson being so blindsided that he left the set before the wrap party. Audiences were stunned when Blake's death was unveiled in the "Abyssinia, Henry's" final scene, though several newspaper columns had already spoiled it.
According to MASH4077TH, the cat was out of the bag as early as 1974, months before the episode aired. An article for the Milwaukee Journal revealed Stevenson had left MASH for a new home at NBC, and that "One of the last things shot before the “MASH” company disbanded for hiatus was a sequence in which Blake finally gets his discharge — only to be killed in the crash of a plane bound for home." There was another feature in a copy of the Evening Independent the day before "Abyssinia, Henry" was broadcast that spoiled Blake's fate for viewers too.
There were rumors of a happier ending having been filmed for Henry in case the network changed its mind, but no alternate finales were shot.
The article got some details wrong, claiming Blake died in a helicopter crash instead of a plane. It appears that few MASH fans read these features since the spoilers being out in the ether did little to quell the shock of the Blake twist. It's also possible people read these features and simply didn't believe them. Prior to Blake's death, killing off major supporting characters on a TV show just wasn't something that happened, as networks feared upsetting audiences.
How Blake's MASH Death Spoiler Slipped Past Unnoticed
Spoiler culture just wasn't a thing in 1975
The Milwaukee Journal article gave fans a full five months to prepare for the MASH season 3 finale. Even so, there's every possibility people read that piece and either forgot about it in the months that followed or dismissed it as a rumor. It's unlikely the feature gained much traction back in 1975 either, when few were worried about being spoiled on movies or television shows. Simply put, spoiler culture wasn't a thing during the 1970s.
Movie and TV fandom was still in its infancy, and it wasn't until the likes of Darth Vader revealing he was Luke's father in The Empire Strikes Back that the concept of spoilers became a thing. If MASH was airing in 2025, Blake's death being spoiled would have spread far and wide soon after it was revealed. Nobody really cared in 1975, so the spoiler slipped past most viewers, which made Blake's tragic ending all the more devastating.
Spoiler Culture Has Come A Long Way Since MASH
50 years later is almost impossible not to get spoiled on movies or TV
Even if it was labeled as a rumor, reports of Blake dying on MASH would spread around social media like wildfire in a modern TV landscape. If anything, viewers would be tuning in to watch how the character died. Soon after, there would be interviews with the showrunners and actors explaining the decision, and podcasts and video essays about why it was the right or wrong one. None of this existed during the 1970s, and anti-spoiler culture was many decades away.
Every Actor Who Left MASH | Character | Exit Season |
|---|---|---|
George Morgan | Father Mulcahy (Pilot Episode) | Season 1 |
McLean Stevenson | Col. Henry Blake | Season 3 |
Wayne Rogers | Trapper John | Season 3 |
Larry Linville | Frank Burns | Season 5 |
Gary Burghoff | Radar O'Reilly | Season 8 |
It's fascinating to look back on the controversy surrounding Blake's death in a modern context. In a post-Game of Thrones or Succession world, the outcry over the character's exit or the reasons it happened would play out very differently. In the same way Blake's exit was quietly groundbreaking, the furor it caused would lay seeds that would bloom into the current-day spoiler landscape. Luckily, MASHaudiences got to watch the episode unspoiled in 1975 - a task that would be much harder 50 years on.
Source: MASH4077TH
The Closest MASH Came To A Hawkeye-Free Episode Proves The Show Could Work Without Him
A season 6 episode of MASH pushed Alan Alda's Hawkeye to one side and highlighted the sitcom could still work without him as the focus.
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