Wayne Rogers

 ( 1933 Births ) 

He played Slim Davis on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow in 1959. He also played a role in Odds Against Tomorrow, which was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 1960 as Best Film Promoting International Understanding. He guest starred on an episode of the CBS western Johnny Ringo.

Rogers co-starred with Robert Bray and Richard Eyer in the western series Stagecoach West on ABC from 1960 to 1961.

Rogers was cast as U.S. Army Lieutenant Richard Henry Pratt in 1965 in Death Valley Days.

He appeared on the Cannon episode "Call Unicorn" in 1971.

When the writers took the liberty of making Hawkeye a thoracic surgery in the episode "Dear Dad" (December 17, 1972), even though Trapper was the unit's only thoracic surgeon in the movie and the novel, Rogers felt Trapper had been stripped of his credentials. He decided to leave the show between production of the third and fourth seasons, making his last on-screen appearance in the episode Abyssinia, Henry, which was also the final episode for fellow cast member McLean Stevenson who had portrayed Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake.

On the M*A*S*H 30th Anniversary Reunion Television Special aired by Fox-TV in 2002, Rogers spoke on the differences between the Hawkeye and Trapper characters, saying, "Alan Alda and I both used to discuss ways on how to distinguish the differences between the two characters as to where there would be a variance.... My character Trapper was a little more impulsive than." Rogers considerably reduced his Alabama accent for the character of Trapper.Comments made by Rogers on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

He succeeded Elliott Gould, who had played the character in the Robert Altman movie MASH, and was himself succeeded by Pernell Roberts on the M*A*S*H spin-off Trapper John, M.D. After three seasons, Rogers left the show after a contract dispute with the producers.

Rogers then was a guest star five times in a recurring role on CBS's Murder, She Wrote. He has served as an executive producer and producer in both television and film producer, and as a screenwriter, and a director.

Rogers also starred in several other movies. In 1981, he played the role of an art forger in Roger Vadim's The Hot Touch. Then, in the movie The Gig (1985), alongside Cleavon Little, he was a jazz musician-hobbyist whose group has an opportunity to play a Catskills resort and must confront failure. Also in 1985, he starred opposite Barbara Eden in the televised reunion movie I Dream of Jeannie... Fifteen Years Later based on the 1960s situation comedy I Dream of Jeannie. Rogers took on the role of Major Tony Nelson, which was originally portrayed by Larry Hagman in the television series when Hagman was unavailable to reprise the character he had originated. In 1986, Rogers hosted the short-lived CBS television series High Risk. He also starred as Walter Duncan in the 1987 movie Race Against the Harvest. In 1990, Rogers co-starred with Connie Selleca in the CBS made-for-television movie Miracle Landing based on the true story of the 1988 Aloha Airlines Flight 243 crash landing after an explosive cabin depressurization.

On April 23, 2012, Rogers signed as the new spokesman for Senior Home Loans, a direct reverse mortgage lender headquartered in Long Island, New York.

In 2001, Rogers and his wife moved to Destin, Florida.

Rogers died on December 31, 2015, from complications of pneumonia in Los Angeles at the age of 82.