Fans of MASH will recognize the name Burt Metcalfe. Starting as Associate Producer when the series began he graduated to showrunner by season 6 and was the only producer to stay with the series for the entire eleven years.
Burt also directed 31 episodes of MASH and had a few writing credits as well.
Oh.. and he was the best boss I ever worked for. More like a father figure, role model, and mentor.
Burt Metcalfe passed away on Wednesday. He was 87.
For anyone that knew him, this is a crushing loss.
It was Burt who hired me and David Isaacs to join the staff of MASH for season six, thus giving us the break of our career. When the head writer left in middle of the season, Burt saw enough potential in us to elevate us to that position. We were still in our 20’s. That’s the kind of support and confidence he provided. We succeeded in the role to a large degree because Burt was there to back us up.
Although he tended to stay in the background, MASH remained a consistently great show because of Burt Metcalfe. The humanity and sensibility of MASH — those were reflections of Burt himself. That’s who he was. And the fact that 128,000,000 people watched the finale is a tribute to how well he guided the show for all eleven years.
When I am asked why we did AfterMASH, a big reason was the chance to work with Burt again. You just don’t meet wonderful quality people like that very often — especially in this industry. I would have happily signed aboard for After-AfterMASH if Burt were running it.
Burt will be greatly missed. I treasure those lunches I had with him and Gene Reynolds at Musso & Frank’s. If there is one thing I can take comfort in, it’s that I know his name and the extraordinary work he did will be seen and appreciated for 50 maybe 100 more years.
Thank you, Burt. Thank you for everything.
Goodbye, farewell, and amen.
from By Ken Levine
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