In the TV show, he was played by Timothy Brown. IMDb lists him as having appeared in 6 episodes.
Interesting note of trivia on Brown: “Along with Gary Burghoff (Radar) and G. Wood (General Hammond), he is one of only three actors to appear in both the original ‘MASH’ movie and the subsequent spin-off series.”
I would say that it’s against the rules in the Whedonverse for there to be happy relationships. I seem to recall a DVD commentary from Joss discussing this unofficial rule of his. There are plenty of happily married couples in Hollywood films.
I also seem to recall, despite what it says on the IMDB page, that they never called him “Spearchucker” in the TV show, just Chuck. How appropriate then that he should fall victim to the Chuck Cunningham syndrome 
OH and my personal one is Little Nell from Teh Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens. Dickens just kills the innocent child for no good reason except to be a total bastard.
They did refer to him as “Spearchucker,” but his character was only seen in passing, and never had a large role in any episode.
One of the rare scripts that forced Esther Rolle to act.
I was remarking just the other day, when my kids turned on “Men in Trees,” how ironic it was that, of the cast of “Good Times” (Esther Rolle has an excuse), John Amos is still working regularly. A long and successful career is the best revenge for getting, not merely fired, but killed!
You should’ve spoilered that! I just ordered it from Amazon. 
Or was it, “Does Little Nell live?” The first gets more Google hits but the second sounds more 1840.
Well, yeah, but he wasn’t fired by the rest of the cast, so your observation seems a little mean.
MASH also had Capt. Spaulding, "The Singing Surgeon, who appeared in three episodes before joining Spearchucker in the minefield. I walked in on the show once and screamed “That’s Loudon Wainwright the Third.” My ex was a huge folk music fan, and that’s the only time that knowledge came in handy.
Wash was killed to show the resolution and true metal of his wife, it was necessary, just as it was necessary for her to pick her husband over Mal with Niska.
Thus proving that Dickens was the J.K. Rowling of his day.
I always wondered about this myself. If Hooker’s book was more-or-less a memoir, was Spearchucker (a) not in the book or (b) a complete fabrication?
The memoir part was life in the MAS*H unit. The football game, where Jones joined the plot, was invented. So I’d guess he was a complete fabrication.
Another soap death that I found gratuitous was Tammy Winslow from Guiding Light. They had her in that tragic romance triangle and it was really good drama for a while, but then they just killed her off. I thought they could have done much better with that storyline without sacrificing such a great character. GL doesn’t usually bring people back from the dead (unless you count Reva), so I’m thinking there is no way they can bring Tammy back.
The season finale of Lost.
No, not Charlie – that’s ok (assuming he really *is *dead). It’s the parachutist with the radio (Naomi?) – no good reason she had to die, other than that the writers wanted to introduce a new plot element (the mysterious rescue ship) without having to deal with a new character.
Well, I just brought this character up in another thread, but: Jack Deveraux’s death(s) in Days of Our Lives were the definition of gratuitous – even though he was never actually dead any of the THREE times he was ‘killed off’ in the space of about two years.
First time he was hit on the head with a brick(!), his body harvested for organs, buried and funerealized.
Flash forward three months and oops: no, he’s not really dead, he’s been spirited away on an island. So what happens next? He escapes, then falls off a cliff and is again pronounced dead. Wife Jennifer mourns a second time and gives birth to their baby son without him.
And … months later, yup, he’s brought back and manages to escape, only to be recaptured, when he escapes again. This time he’s reunited with his family at last. Trouble is, he soon starts feeling like crap. Guess what? The piece of shit headwriter decides to give poor Jack a mysterious, unidentifiable but definitely completely terminal disease. Jack tries to deal with it but then, as if having a terminal illness isn’t bad enough, his character drives off a freaking bridge during a rainstorm. So even the short time he had left was brutally cut off.
Wife Jennifer grieves a third time, albeit she’s kinda benumbed by now. Starts up a relationship with an old boyfriend. In a ridiculously short amount of time she agrees to marry the guy. And sure enough…
Do I need to write it? Jack is discovered in a hospice, still dying but alive and not wanting to reveal the fact to his wife. He wants her to move on with her life and not see him in such a wasted condition. Of course he eventually changes his mind and shows up the day of Jennifer’s wedding to the dull old boyfriend.
If you’re wondering why the character was continually treated like shit, it’s because the talentless hack of a head writer, James Reilly, basically hated the character and the actor who played him (Matt Ashford). (Seriously: back in 1993, when Reilly first ascended to his position, one of his earliest acts was writing Jack off the show. He then waited a little while and rewrote the part as a dumb mimbo. Ashford wasn’t rehired for the role until 2000, long after Reilly had safely left the soap. Unfortunately, Reilly returned in 2003, at which time Jack was stricken with his multiple death syndrome.)
So … yeah, I’d say Jack Deveraux wins this thread for getting stuck not once but thrice with three utterly useless, unwarranted, pointless deaths.
Wow! I think that’s a winner. They could dedicate an award to the character.
"And the Jack Deveraux Award for Most Gratuitous Death goes to. . . "
I was under the impression that the actor who played Wash wanted his character to die. Joss tried to talk him out of it but he still wanted the character to die. Is that true or some lame internet rumor I heard?
Marc
What about Deadwood? people who watch the show will know what character I’m talking about, and I dont want to spoil it for anyone that doesnt. Just getting to love the character, getting ready to spend at least another season watching them, then BLAM. Taken out like a redshirt extra. Of course, Deadwood is at least BASED on fact, so the death was inevitable… but so soon??
Also, in Oz, anyone was fair game.