American actor and comedian best known for his role as Lt. Colonel Henry Blake in the television series “M*A*S*H” (1972-1975) which earned him nominations for four successive Emmys, and won him a Golden Globe Award in 1974. Stevenson also appeared on a number of television series, notably “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” and “The Doris Day Show.”
McLean grew up in quiet surroundings with his sister, Ann Whitney, now an actress, his dad E. M. Stevenson, a doctor who made house calls until the year before he died at 80 of cancer and his mom, Sara, a former nurse whose family had theatrical leanings, who died at 63 of stroke. When he was six he was a burn victim as his sweater caught fire when he leaned over a Jack-o-lantern lit with a candle. Skin grafts from his left arm to his neck were so successful he didn’t have a scar later in life. Graduating from Bloomington High School in 1946, he spent two years in the Navy, then studied speech at Northwestern University graduating with a degree in Theater Arts. A cousin of Adlai Stevenson, McLean worked on his presidential campaigns in 1952 and 1956 and formed Young Democrats for Stevenson across the country. Originally an assistant athletic director at Northwestern and a salesman for hospital supplies and insurance, he was 32 when he finally committed to acting.
He schooled himself by acting in commercials in New York City and Los Angeles, summer stock and in comedy clubs making his stage debut in “Music Man” in 1962. Writing comedy sketches, he got the attention of Tommy Smothers. He was hired as a writer for “The Glen Campbell Show,” “That Was the Week That Was” and “The Smothers Brother’s Comedy Hour.” He began acting in sketches he had written and played a part in “The Christian Licorice Store” in 1971, “Win, Place or Steal,” 1975 and “The Cat From Outer Space” in 1978. His first big TV role was as an unassuming magazine editor on CBS’s “Doris Day Show” (1969-1971). He played Lt.-Colonel Henry Blake, his most famous role, on “M*A*S*H” from 1972 to 1975, receiving three Emmy nominations in his three years with the show and a 1973 Golden Globe Award. When personal problems made money an issue and NBC offered him $1 million and a long-term contract, he left “M*A*S*H” to star in “The McLean Stevenson Show” and several other short-lived sitcoms, including “Hello, Larry” in January 1979 to April 1980 and the last, “Dirty Dancing” (1988-1989). An avid golfer with a ten-handicap, in 1982 Stevenson was on his way to play when he heard a news report of a young boy that had been burned. He worked to raise money for the Sherman Oaks Burn Center in the San Fernando Valley, CA from that time until his death.
Stevenson never talked about his first wife who received a settlement after he left “M*A*S*H.” He met second wife Ginny Fosdick, a talent coordinator for “The Tonight Show,” when Johnny Carson introduced them when Stevenson was a guest. They were married on 8 December 1980, and their daughter Lindsay was born on 22 January 1982, 16:24 in Beverly Hills, California. He also had a son, Jeffrey MacGregor.
Stevenson died unexpectedly on 15 February 1996 of cardiac arrest in a Tarzana, California hospital, at age 68.
Link to Wikipedia biography