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Retro Bio: Alan Alda: An Unauthorized Biography

© Michelle Troutman

by Jason Bonderoff
Signet Books
ISBN #0-451-11419-1 (out-of-print)
1982
paperback
245 pages, illustrations

Alan Alda, son of showbiz veteran Robert Alda, managed to eclipse his father's career. When Alan was born in 1936, his father performed comedy on vaudeville. Nearly ten years later Robert signed with Warner Brothers to play songwriter George Gershwin in Rhapsody in Blue (1945). After a succession of formula pictures he starred in the hit Broadway musical Guys and Dolls and later in European movies.

Author Jason Bonderoff compares Alan to his father early on, then yields the spotlight to Alan. Even as his son was starring on M*A*S*H, Robert Alda continued to act, in Days of Our Lives. He didn't initially encourage Alan's acting, but Alan refused his father's choice of a medical profession. Like his father, Alan wasn't an immediate success. Following his graduation from Fordham University in 1956, Alan spent the next eight years trying summer stock and off-Broadway plays. His proverbial big break occurred in the Broadway comedy The Owl and the Pussycat (1964). Alan started in showbiz early enough; he made his first stage appearance at six months when Phil Silvers snatched him from his mother's arms to use him in his routine. Alan started writing plays while attending Archbishop Stepinac High School, where he and his best friend collaborated to write and stage the musical Love's the Ticket, which grossed $300 in ticket sales.

Alongside odd jobs such as supermarket clown and baby picture salesman, Alan landed small stage and TV roles. In 1964, he joined the cast of the comedy series That Was the Week that Was. After the show ended, in 1966 he returned to Broadway playing three roles in the musical The Apple Tree, which gained him another Tony nomination. Then the Broadway roles became scarce. He turned to movies, playing author George Plimpton in Paper Lion (1968), based on Plimpton's experiences as a pro football player.

For his role as Hawkeye Pierce in the TV series M*A*S*H Alda drew upon his mandatory six month army stint during the '50s. He also chose to play the character closer to the one in the Richard Hooker novel rather than Donald Sutherland's movie portrayal. The show appealed to Alda because it was the first series to take a realistic look at war.

One of the best chapters scrutinizes Alda's M*A*S*H work and his co-stars. He apparently got along well with them, except Larry Linville (Major Frank Burns) whose ex-wife Vana Tribbey refused to discuss Alda with the biographer.

Alda stands out among celebrities for his 44 year marriage and a lack of tabloid headlines. Bonderoff suggests Alda's desire to distance himself from his father and Catholic school education are reasons