Burt Metcalfe obit

Burt Metcalfe, Producer on Every Season of ‘M*A*S*H,’ Dies at 87

After acting in 'Gidget,' 'The Twilight Zone' and 'Father of the Bride,' the 13-time Emmy nominee spent all 11 seasons on the legendary CBS comedy.

 

 He was not on the list.

Burt Metcalfe, the onetime actor from Canada who served as a producer, director and writer on all 11 seasons of M*A*S*H, collecting 13 Emmy nominations along the way, has died. He was 87.

One of the show’s unsung heroes, Metcalfe died Wednesday in Los Angeles of natural causes, his wife of 43 years, actress Jan Jorden announced. (She had a recurring role as Nurse Baker on the series.)

Before he gave up full-time acting to work on the other side of the camera, Metcalfe played the surfer Lord Byron opposite Sandra Dee and James Darren in Gidget (1959), appeared on the first season of The Twilight Zone and starred on the 1961-62 CBS sitcom Father of the Bride.

Metcalfe was a producer on all but five of M*A*S*H‘s 256 episodes from 1972-83 and its showrunner for its last six seasons. He also directed 31 installments of the acclaimed CBS comedy, wrote three and acted in one.

Seven of his Emmy noms came for outstanding comedy series; incredibly, he never won once.

M*A*S*H, he once said, “is not your typical military sitcom, and I think there has always been that dedication and that kind of aspiration to doing something above the norm. And fortunately, the chemistry of the people involved, the writers, actors, producers, directors, has been of the caliber that has allowed this to happen, where everybody just had a pride in what they were doing.”

Burton Denis Metcalfe was born on March 19, 1935, in Saskatoon, Canada. He spent most of his youth in Montreal before moving in 1949 to Los Angeles and studied theater at UCLA for four years, graduating in 1955.

He made his onscreen acting debut in Mark Robson’s The Bridges of Toko Ri (1954), then served with the U.S. Navy in 1956-57.

Metcalfe portrayed the panicked neighbor Don Martin, who famously points the finger at episode star Claude Akins, on the first-season Twilight Zone episode “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street,” which premiered in March 1960.

On Father of the Bride — based on the hit Spencer Tracy-Elizabeth Taylor 1950 film — he was newlywed Buckley Dunston opposite Myrna Fahey as his wife and Ruth Warrick and Leon Ames as his in-laws.

He played the son of Walter Pidgeon’s character in Lord Pingo in summer stock in 1963 and showed up on episodes of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Outer Limits (the first episode), The Farmer’s Daughter, The Fugitive, Perry Mason, Hennesey and 12 O’Clock High.

Metcalfe got into production at Screen Gems in 1965 as a casting director before being promoted to executive assistant under producer Harry Ackerman (Bewitched, Flying Nun). During a hiatus, he acted for one of his last times, playing Maxwell in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever (1971).

In 1970, he moved to Fox to work with Gene Reynolds as casting director and associate producer of two pilots, Anna and the King and M*A*S*H. Reynolds was a driving force behind the latter.

Metcalfe also was an executive producer on the 1983-85 follow-up AfterMASH, starring Harry Morgan, Jamie Farr and William Christopher. He segued to Warner Bros. Television in the mid-1980s before joining MTM Enterprises in 1986.

Producer (9 credits)

 2002 'M*A*S*H': 30th Anniversary Reunion (TV Movie documentary) (executive producer)

 1993 Cutters (TV Series) (executive producer)

 1991 Memories of M*A*S*H (TV Movie documentary) (executive producer)

 1989-1990 FM (TV Series) (co-executive producer - 3 episodes)

- Doing It Again (1990) ... (co-executive producer)

- Play Laura for Me (1989) ... (co-executive producer)

- Love or Money (1989) ... (co-executive producer)

 1986 Doing Life (TV Movie) (supervising producer)

 1983-1985 AfterMASH (TV Series) (executive producer - 29 episodes)

- Saturday's Heroes (1985) ... (executive producer)

- Wet Feet (1984) ... (executive producer)

- Ward Is Hell (1984) ... (executive producer)

- The Recovery Room (1984) ... (executive producer)

- Madness to His Method (1984) ... (executive producer)

  M*A*S*H (TV Series) (associate producer - 96 episodes, 1972 - 1976) (executive producer - 83 episodes, 1978 - 1983) (producer - 72 episodes, 1976 - 1979)

- Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen (1983) ... (executive producer)

- As Time Goes By (1983) ... (executive producer)

- Give and Take (1983) ... (executive producer)

- Friends and Enemies (1983) ... (executive producer)

- Say No More (1983) ... (executive producer)

 

 1975 Karen (TV Series) (associate producer - 2 episodes)

- A Day in the Life (1975) ... (associate producer)

- Karen (1975) ... (associate producer)

 1972 Anna and the King (TV Series) (associate producer - 1 episode)

- Pilot (1972) ... (associate producer)

 

Actor (34 credits)

 1979 M*A*S*H (TV Series)

Driver

- The Party (1979) ... Driver (uncredited)

 1971 Diamonds Are Forever

Maxwell (uncredited)

 1964-1965 12 O'Clock High (TV Series)

Colonel Chandler / Lt. Col. Chandler / Lt. Col. Ed Chandler

- The Threat (1965) ... Colonel Chandler

- The Clash (1965) ... Lt. Col. Chandler

- Appointment at Liege (1964) ... Lt. Col. Ed Chandler

 1965 The Fugitive (TV Series)

Phil Corbin

- The Survivors (1965) ... Phil Corbin

 1965 The Farmer's Daughter (TV Series)

Ken Borden

- Exit Katy (1965) ... Ken Borden

 1962-1965 Perry Mason (TV Series)

Jeffrey Mills / John Lathrop / Richard Campion

- The Case of the Thermal Thief (1965) ... Jeffrey Mills

- The Case of the Careless Kidnapper (1964) ... John Lathrop

- The Case of the Polka Dot Pony (1962) ... Richard Campion

 1964 Wendy and Me (TV Series)

Bill Harris

- It Takes Two to Tangle (1964) ... Bill Harris

 1964 The Tycoon (TV Series)

Ed Matthews

- The Great Race (1964) ... Ed Matthews

 1963 The Outer Limits (TV Series)

Eddie Phillips

- The Galaxy Being (1963) ... Eddie Phillips

 1962 The Comedy Spot (TV Series)

Mike Stevens

- For the Love of Mike (1962) ... Mike Stevens

 1961-1962 Father of the Bride (TV Series)

Buckley Dunston

- The Visit (1962) ... Buckley Dunston

- The Hammers (1962) ... Buckley Dunston

- Bradley's Shack (1962) ... Buckley Dunston

- The Band (1962) ... Buckley Dunston

- The Hospital (1962) ... Buckley Dunston

 1961 Tallahassee 7000 (TV Series)

- Hostage (1961) ... (as Burton D. Metcalfe)

 1961 The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (TV Series)

Lt. Merriweather

- The Chicken Corporal (1961) ... Lt. Merriweather

 1961 The Canadians

Constable Springer

 1960 Hennesey (TV Series)

Lt. Joe Alberts

- Big Brother (1960) ... Lt. Joe Alberts

 1960 The Detectives (TV Series)

Howard

- The Chameleon Truck (1960) ... Howard

 1960 The Twilight Zone (TV Series)

Don Martin

- The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street (1960) ... Don Martin

 1960 Fury (TV Series)

Dick Thompson

- The Skin Divers (1960) ... Dick Thompson

 1959 Death Valley Days (TV Series)

Tom

- Indian Emily (1959) ... Tom

 1959 Philip Marlowe (TV Series)

Jerry Bartlett

- Mama's Boy (1959) ... Jerry Bartlett

 1959 Don't Give Up the Ship

Lt. Bond (uncredited)

 1959 Have Gun - Will Travel (TV Series)

Ben Howard

- The Haunted Trees (1959) ... Ben Howard

 1959 The D.A.'s Man (TV Series)

Jack

- Mr. Respectable (1959) ... Jack

 1959 Gidget

Lord Byron

 1958 How to Marry a Millionaire (TV Series)

William Paxton

- The Playwright (1958) ... William Paxton

 1958 The Silent Service (TV Series)

Bell / Comm. Stevens

- The Tautog Story (1958) ... Bell

- The Archerfish Spits Straight (1958) ... Comm. Stevens (as Burt Metcalf)

 1958 Steve Canyon (TV Series)

Lt. Buck Buckley

- Operation Thunderbirds (1958) ... Lt. Buck Buckley

 1958 The Space Children

Guard (uncredited)

 1958 Whirlybirds (TV Series)

Murderer

- Blind Victory (1958) ... Murderer

 1957 The Gray Ghost (TV Series)

Palmer

- The Brothers (1957) ... Palmer

 1955 General Electric Theater (TV Series)

- Shadow on the Heart (1955)

 1955 The Man Behind the Badge (TV Series)

Air Policeman

- The Case of Operation Sabotage (1955) ... Air Policeman

 1955 The Ray Milland Show (TV Series)

Tom

- A Week with Cinderella (1955) ... Tom

 1954 The Bridges at Toko-Ri

Military Police Sergeant (uncredited)

 

Director (5 credits)

 1990 Back to the Beanstalk (TV Movie)

 1990 FM (TV Series) (1 episode)

- Two Taxing Women (1990)

 1987 My Sister Sam (TV Series) (1 episode)

- Fog Bound (1987)

 1983-1985 AfterMASH (TV Series) (13 episodes)

- Saturday's Heroes (1985)

- Ward Is Hell (1984)

- Madness to His Method (1984)

- Strangers and Other Lovers (1984)

- Less Miserables (1984)

1975-1983 M*A*S*H (TV Series) (31 episodes)

- As Time Goes By (1983)

- The Joker Is Wild (1982)

- Picture This (1982)

- A Holy Mess (1982)

- 'Twas the Day After Christmas (1981)