McLean Stevenson Net Worth Overview
When McLean Stevenson passed away in 1996, he left behind a net worth of $2 million. That might not sound like much by today’s standards, but adjusted for inflation, we’re talking about roughly $4 million in current dollars.
Here’s the thing about Stevenson’s wealth story – it’s impossible to tell without talking about one of the biggest “what if” moments in television history. The guy who made us all love Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake on M*A*S*H made a career choice that still gets people talking decades later.
You see, Stevenson walked away from M*A*S*H after just three seasons. And that decision? Well, it pretty much shaped everything that came after – both his bank account and his place in TV history.
Before he became the lovably scattered commanding officer we all remember, Stevenson took quite the winding road to stardom. Military service, insurance sales, even some political work – the man tried his hand at plenty before finding his groove in Hollywood.
Early Life and Career Beginnings
Edgar McLean Stevenson Jr. came into this world on November 14, 1927, in Normal, Illinois. And yes, that’s actually the town’s name – Normal. Pretty fitting for a guy who’d later play such a wonderfully “normal” character on TV, don’t you think?
His family wasn’t exactly ordinary, though. Stevenson had some serious political pedigree running through his veins. His great-grandfather was William Stevenson, brother to a U.S. Vice President. That made McLean a distant cousin to Adlai Stevenson II, the guy who ran for president twice in the 1950s.
Growing up with a cardiologist father and all that political connection, you’d think young McLean was destined for something traditional. Maybe medicine, maybe politics. But life had other plans.
After high school at Bloomington High and Lake Forest Academy, Stevenson did his patriotic duty. He served in the Navy from 1946 to 1947 as a hospital corpsman. Little did he know that military experience would come in handy years later when he’d be barking orders at Hawkeye and Trapper John.
College took him to Northwestern University, where he pledged Phi Gamma Delta and earned his theater arts degree. But here’s where it gets interesting – he didn’t immediately chase the Hollywood dream. Instead, he bounced around quite a bit.
Radio work in one city, playing a clown on live TV in Dallas, even working as an assistant athletic director back at Northwestern. The guy sold medical supplies and insurance too. Talk about keeping your options open!
His political connections eventually pulled him into campaign work. He became a press secretary for his famous cousin during those 1950s presidential runs, even founding the “Young Democrats for Stevenson.” It wasn’t until 1961, when cousin Adlai started introducing him around at fancy social gatherings, that McLean seriously considered show business.
The M*A*S*H Breakthrough and Golden Years
When Stevenson finally committed to acting, he didn’t mess around. He auditioned for the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, won a scholarship, and made his professional debut in “The Music Man” back in 1962.
Those early years were all about paying dues. Summer stock theater in Warsaw, Indiana. TV commercials for everything from Kellogg’s cereal to Winston cigarettes. He even did some writing work for comedy shows like “That Was the Week That Was” and “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.”
The steady paycheck came when he landed a role on “The Doris Day Show” in 1969. Playing magazine editor Michael Nicholson wasn’t glamorous, but it kept food on the table and got him noticed by the right people in Hollywood.
Then came the audition that changed everything. Stevenson originally tried out for Hawkeye Pierce when M*A*S*H was being cast. Can you imagine? But the producers had a different idea – they wanted him as Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake instead.
Best career move he never planned to make.
When M*A*S*H hit the airwaves in 1972, it didn’t take long for audiences to fall in love with Blake’s bumbling, well-meaning leadership style. Stevenson brought this perfect mix of authority and vulnerability to the role. The guy could make you laugh one minute and genuinely care about his character the next.
The Golden Globe Award he won in 1974 proved what fans already knew – this wasn’t just good TV, this was special TV. And Stevenson wasn’t just along for the ride. He wrote episodes, contributed story ideas, even earned an Emmy nomination for his creative work on the show.
For three glorious seasons, McLean Stevenson was exactly where he belonged.
The Decision That Changed Everything
But here’s where our story takes a turn that still makes TV historians shake their heads.
Despite M*A*S*H’s incredible success, Stevenson started feeling restless. He wasn’t alone – Wayne Rogers, who played Trapper John, was getting antsy too. Both actors were growing tired of playing second fiddle to Alan Alda’s Hawkeye character.
Loretta Swit, who played Hot Lips Houlihan, later shared what Stevenson told her before he left: “I know I will not be in anything as good as this show, but I have to leave and be number one.”
Think about that for a second. The man knew he was walking away from something special. But the desire to be the star, not just part of an ensemble, was eating at him.
There were other factors too. Stevenson complained about how 20th Century Fox treated the cast and crew, especially when they were filming on location. Plus, other opportunities were knocking, and they looked pretty tempting at the time.
So after season three, McLean Stevenson said goodbye to M*A*S*H.
The show’s writers could have just had him transfer to another unit or get promoted. Instead, they did something that had never been done on television before. They killed Henry Blake.
In the episode “Abyssinia, Henry,” Blake gets his discharge papers and heads home to Illinois. He’s happy, the whole camp is celebrating, and then… Radar walks into the operating room with a piece of paper. The plane carrying Henry Blake was shot down over the Sea of Japan. No survivors.
Here’s the kicker – the writers kept this twist secret from the other actors. When Gary Burghoff delivered that devastating news, the shock and tears you see on screen? That’s real emotion from actors who had no idea their friend’s character was about to die.
It was groundbreaking television. And it happened because McLean Stevenson wanted to be number one somewhere else.
Post-M*A*S*H Career and Financial Struggles
Reality hit McLean Stevenson pretty hard after he left M*A*S*H.
His first big project was “The McLean Stevenson Show,” which premiered in 1976. Despite all the hype and his newfound fame, audiences just weren’t interested. The show got cancelled after one season.
Looking back in 1990, Stevenson was brutally honest about what went wrong: “I made the mistake of believing that people were enamored of McLean Stevenson when the person they were enamored of was Henry Blake.”
Ouch. But he wasn’t wrong.
Next up was “Hello, Larry,” which managed to stick around from 1979 to 1980. Better than his previous attempt, sure, but still nowhere near the cultural phenomenon he’d left behind. The show was… fine. And in television, fine doesn’t cut it.
The 1980s and early ’90s became a parade of guest appearances. “The Love Boat,” “The Golden Girls,” game shows like “Match Game” where he was a regular panelist for a while. Steady work, but nothing that would make people forget about Henry Blake.
His last significant role came in 1993 with the miniseries “Tales of the City.” By then, Stevenson had pretty much accepted that lightning wasn’t going to strike twice.
Meanwhile, back on M*A*S*H, his former co-stars were getting rich. Alan Alda was pulling in $300,000 per episode by the later seasons – that’s $6 million per year, or about $22 million in today’s money. Even Gary Burghoff got offered $4 million per season when he decided to leave in 1979.
The financial gap between what Stevenson was earning and what he could have been earning? Let’s just say it was substantial.
McLean Stevenson Net Worth Compared to M*A*S*H Cast
Want to see what staying power looks like in dollar signs? Just compare McLean Stevenson’s net worth to his former M*A*S*H castmates.
Alan Alda, who stuck with the show for all eleven seasons, is sitting pretty with an estimated $50 million net worth today. That’s the difference between being the star and being part of an ensemble – when you’re the star of a hit show, the money follows.
The other actors who stayed with M*A*S*H didn’t do too shabby either. Jamie Farr (Corporal Klinger) has about $6 million to his name. Gary Burghoff, even though he left after eight seasons, also built up around $6 million. Mike Farrell, who joined in season four as B.J. Hunnicutt, managed to accumulate a similar $6 million fortune.
Even among the cast members who’ve passed away, the numbers tell a story. Loretta Swit, who played Major Houlihan for the show’s entire run, had an estimated $4 million when she died. That’s the same as Stevenson’s inflation-adjusted net worth, despite her much longer tenure with the series.
Here’s what really stings: if Stevenson had stayed with M*A*S*H through its entire run, he would have been earning those massive per-episode fees during the show’s peak years. We’re talking about potentially tens of millions of dollars in career earnings, not to mention the residuals that keep paying long after the cameras stop rolling.
The math is pretty simple. M*A*S*H became one of the most successful shows in television history. The series finale in 1983 drew over 100 million viewers – more than the Super Bowl that year. Being part of that kind of cultural phenomenon pays dividends for decades.
Stevenson’s story is a perfect example of how one career decision can have compound effects on your lifetime earnings. He didn’t just miss out on immediate salary increases; he lost out on syndication money, reunion specials, and all the career opportunities that come with being associated with a beloved, long-running series.
Legacy and Final Years
Despite the professional disappointments, McLean Stevenson kept his personal life together. He was married three times – first to Polly Ann Gordon from 1957 to 1960, then Louise Herbert from 1969 to 1971, and finally to Ginny Fosdick starting in 1980. That last marriage stuck, lasting until his death. He had three children along the way.
What’s remarkable about Stevenson is that he never seemed bitter about his career choices. Sure, he acknowledged his mistakes, but he kept working, kept his sense of humor, and maintained his dignity throughout the lean years.
Game show appearances, guest spots on popular series, the occasional commercial – he took whatever came his way and did it with professionalism. It wasn’t the stardom he’d dreamed of, but it was honest work in the business he loved.
On February 15, 1996, McLean Stevenson suffered a fatal heart attack at age 68. In one of those weird coincidences that make you believe in cosmic connections, Roger Bowen – the actor who played Henry Blake in the original M*A*S*H movie – died of a heart attack the very next day.
Stevenson was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, surrounded by other entertainment legends. His death marked the end of a career that, while it didn’t reach its full potential, had touched millions of lives.
When you think about McLean Stevenson’s net worth, the $4 million figure (in today’s money) tells only part of the story. Sure, it’s modest compared to some of his M*A*S*H co-stars, but it represents a life spent entertaining people.
His portrayal of Henry Blake remains one of television’s most beloved characters. Decades after his death, new fans are still discovering M*A*S*H on streaming platforms and falling in love with that bumbling, big-hearted colonel from Illinois.
Maybe that’s the real measure of wealth – not what you leave in the bank, but what you leave in people’s hearts. By that standard, McLean Stevenson was rich indeed.
The financial lesson from his career is clear: sometimes the safe choice is the smart choice. But his artistic legacy reminds us that some things are worth more than money. Even if he never got to be “number one” again, McLean Stevenson gave us a character that will live forever.
And honestly? That’s not a bad way to be remembered.
