A morning with "Fr. Mulcahy"

I had the distinct pleasure of spending part of Wednesday morning with actor Bill Christopher who played Fr. Mulcahy on M*A*S*H. That was many years ago and a few gray hairs later, but when you first see Bill there's no mistaking him. His voice is the same too. I picked him up for interviews at FOX 11, WIXX and Y100 radio. He's in town for the musical comedy "Church Basement Ladies" at the Meyer Theatre.

Bill says Wisconsin almost seems like a second home for him because he grew up in the Chicago area, so coming to Wisconsin was common when he was young.As we drove, Bill was happy to talk about his many years on M*A*S*H. He makes no bones that much of his success in life is due to that show, so why not talk about it? It made it possible for he and his wife to provide exceptional care of their Autistic son who is now in his 40s. Besides the blockbuster series, Bill also appeared in the Gomer Pyle, Andy Griffith and Murder She Wrote TV series. Hard to believe "Fr. Mulcahy" played a murderer in Murder She Wrote. One of the few bad guys he's played in his day.

Christopher says the typical day on the M*A*S*H set was 9 to 5. Sometimes earlier if you had a big role in the particular episode they were filming. He might even have a few days off if he didn't have a big role in a episode because it took about a week to film one show and they did 22 shows a season. He says he still gets together with Loretta Switt, Alan Alda, Harry Morgan and other regulars from the show more often than you'd think. Bill Christopher is on the other side of 70 these days, but still enjoys traveling with his wife for his acting career. He was part of super successful, long running TV show. Not too many of those around anymore. All of the media folks he met that morning were pretty thrilled to meet him I think. Yeah, it was kind of cool for me too!