Gary Burghoff, widely recognized for playing the iconic role of Radar O’Reilly on MAS*H, was born on May 24, 1943, in Bristol, Connecticut. The fascinating layer to his performance is that Burghoff was the only actor from the original, cynical 1970 feature film who was hired to reprise his exact character for the long-running television series. Even more remarkable is that Burghoff played the character of a nimble, drum-playing clerk while living with a congenital deformity called brachydactyly, which left three fingers on his left hand significantly shorter than the others. Throughout the entire run of the show, he carefully used his clipboard, hats, and clever camera angles to hide his hand from the audience, ensuring that viewers focused entirely on Radar’s eerie ability to anticipate incoming helicopters.