TORONTO – Milton Berle, Lucille Ball, Bob Hope, Danny Kaye and Red Skelton are only a handful of the names Jamie Farr rhymes off when he talks about the late great comedians with whom he once worked.
The list of TV shows he’s been on is equally impressive: The Love Boat, The Flying Nun, Get Smart, Gomer Pyle: USMC and My Three Sons, to name a few.
But Farr is best known for playing cross-dressing Maxwell Klinger on 213 episodes of the sitcom M*A*S*H.
Farr says the job that lasted from 1972 to 1983 was supposed to be a one-time gig.
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“I got $250 for the day,” he recalls. “They liked the character so they brought him back a couple of times and then put me on contract.”
Farr says he is still feeling the love.
“It’s wonderful to be a character that people like. Everybody hugs me and wants my autograph and takes a picture with me,” he says. “At least I’m well-liked.”
Farr, 78, is starring this month in a production of The Last Romance at Theatre Aquarius in Hamilton, Ont.
The veteran actor admits he’s anxious to return home to his wife of five decades, Joy Ann Richards.
“Eight shows a week in the theatre is kind of tough,” Farr says.
Born Jameel Farah in Toledo, Ohio, he was cleaning droppings at a chinchilla farm and attending acting school (with Clint Eastwood, no less) when he was discovered and given a role in 1955’s Blackboard Jungle starring Sidney Poitier and Canada’s Glenn Ford.
The Last Romance is on at Theatre Aquarius in Hamilton, Ont. until Feb. 23. For more information go to theatreaquarius.org.
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