# R.I.P., 'Father Mulcahy' (William Christopher) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death\ **Created:** [January 1, 2017, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-father-mulcahy-william-christopher/776018 "2017-01-01T02:02:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-father-mulcahy-william-christopher/776018/21 "2017-01-01T19:07:02Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > They left his nickname out of the series - “Dago Red” (after communion wine) It came up once or twice in the first season, like several other elements from the movie that were eventually dropped (like Spearchucker). I feel bad for being relieved upon reading the full thread title - seeing just ‘RIP Father Mulcahy’, I had a moment of worry that Rene Auberjonois had passed - but this is quite a loss. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-father-mulcahy-william-christopher/776018/22 "2017-01-01T19:26:28Z")
One more good person taken by 2016. I hope his family and friends are comforted by the joy his work brought millions. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-father-mulcahy-william-christopher/776018/23 "2017-01-01T19:50:59Z")
I think the title of the final M_A_S\*H episode says it well. Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen, William Christopher, aka “the Padre.” ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-father-mulcahy-william-christopher/776018/24 "2017-01-01T21:43:34Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Jamie Farr has lost a life-long friend in real life. Both Farr and Christopher had roles as hippies (!) in _With Six You Get Eggroll_. 1968, 4 years before _MASH_. (Ken Osmond also had a small role in that. That’s a lovely set of rosary beads you have, Father Mulcahy.) ---
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-father-mulcahy-william-christopher/776018/25 "2017-01-01T21:46:31Z")
One of my favorite characters from my favorite show of all time, and a tireless advocate for the voiceless. RIP Padre. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2017, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-father-mulcahy-william-christopher/776018/26 "2017-01-02T04:12:04Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > I feel bad for being relieved upon reading the full thread title - seeing just ‘RIP Father Mulcahy’, I had a moment of worry that Rene Auberjonois had passed - but this is quite a loss. It was only upon reading of Mulcahy’s death that I learned that that role had been played in the movie by the changeling from Deep Space Nine. Small world. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-father-mulcahy-william-christopher/776018/27 "2017-01-03T14:10:52Z")
My absolutely most favorite line from M_A_S\*H was Father Mulcahy’s “I am frequently mistaken for being absent.” I’ve used it about a thousand times. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-father-mulcahy-william-christopher/776018/28 "2017-01-03T17:22:52Z")
“This isn’t one of my sermons; I expect you to listen.” ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-father-mulcahy-william-christopher/776018/29 "2017-01-03T18:08:06Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Both Farr and Christopher had roles as hippies (!) in _With Six You Get Eggroll_. 1968, 4 years before _MASH_. Yeah, I remember recognizing them in that. > [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > It was only upon reading of Mulcahy’s death that I learned that that role had been played in the movie by the changeling from Deep Space Nine. Small world. Worth noting that one other person has played Father Mulcahy (George Morgan in the first broadcast episode, in which the Father wins the raffle, with the prize being a weekend in Seoul with one of the nurses). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-father-mulcahy-william-christopher/776018/30 "2017-01-05T18:07:32Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I remember the episode in which the characters were interviewed for a documentary for American television. The reporter asked him a question, to which he replied something like “When the doctors cut into a patient and it’s cold, you know the way it is now, today, steam rises from the body and the doctor will will warm himself over the open wound. Could anyone look on that and not feel changed?” > > Very moving, and from what I heard, they were told this anecdote by someone who worked in a real MASH unit in Korea. (They had technical advisors who served in similar real-life roles.) I remember the episode, and Christopher nailed that line. A talented actor in just the right role. May he rest in peace. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-father-mulcahy-william-christopher/776018/31 "2017-01-05T18:29:23Z")
Over the Christmas holiday I was watching a few episodes of a sitcom binge that the station Decades were running. They were airing a run of _ **Gomer Pyle, USMC** _. I hadn’t seen that show in years and forgot that William Christopher was an occasional supporting character recruit on that series. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-father-mulcahy-william-christopher/776018/32 "2017-01-05T18:36:43Z")
I was curious about learning more about his career and just checked on imdb to see that after his long run as Father Mulcahy on M_A_S\*H he played: A priest on _Heaven Sent_ 1994 A chaplain on _Mad About You_ 1998 Father Tobias on the soap _Days of Our Lives_ 2012 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-father-mulcahy-william-christopher/776018/33 "2017-01-05T19:27:33Z")
Too bad those imam and rabbi parts proved so elusive… ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-father-mulcahy-william-christopher/776018/34 "2017-01-05T21:08:48Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I remember the episode in which the characters were interviewed for a documentary for American television. The reporter asked him a question, to which he replied something like “When the doctors cut into a patient and it’s cold, you know the way it is now, today, steam rises from the body and the doctor will will warm himself over the open wound. Could anyone look on that and not feel changed?” > > Very moving, and from what I heard, they were told this anecdote by someone who worked in a real MASH unit in Korea. (They had technical advisors who served in similar real-life roles.) In later years, the show had a research staff who would phone Korean War vets around the country and ask if they had any memorable stories that could be used on _MAS_H\*\*\*. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-father-mulcahy-william-christopher/776018.md?page=1)