Radar O'Reilly

Corporal Walter Eugene "Radar" O'Reilly is a fictional character in the novel ', the movie M*A*S*H, the television series M*A*S*H, the television movie W*A*L*T*E*R and two episodes of the series After M*A*S*H. He was portrayed in both the movie and the series by Gary Burghoff--the only movie actor to reprise his role in the series.

Leaving M*A*S*H

Because Burghoff felt a need to move on, the Radar character was written out of the series at the beginning of the eighth season. Radar was discharged after his Uncle Ed passed away so that he could go home and help out on the farm. When the unit is in dire straights because they have no working generators, Radar decides that the 4077th needs him more than his mother does. Pierce and Potter try to convince Radar that he is making a mistake, but it takes Klinger's swindling a generator from supply to convince him that the 4077th will survive without him. As a way of saying that Radar came to Korea as a boy and went home a man, he left his teddy bear behind (as Dr. Sidney Freedman predicted he would in the episode "War of Nerves"), leaving it with Pierce.

Related Topics:
Klinger - Dr. Sidney Freedman - War of Nerves

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In the short television movie W*A*L*T*E*R, Radar joins the police force after he returns from Korea.

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