Rogers is survived by his wife Amy, two children, Bill and Laura, and four grandchildren. He died after suffering complications from pneumonia.
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In recent years Mr. Rogers was a regular panelist on the Fox News stock-investment show Cashin’ In.
He turned down the Trapper John role in the series because he did not want to be typecast as a physician.
Alda, 79, played Dr. Hawkeye Pierce for the entire run of the Korean War-set comedy series 1972-83.
William Wayne McMillan Rogers III was born on April 7, 1933, in Birmingham, Alabama.
He left the show, in 1975, after just three years, following a contractual dispute. Wayne Rogers had been quoted with regard to an “old-fashioned morals clause” that may have helped his departure from the show. “Well, nobody defined an ‘immoral fashion, ‘ as it were – so it was at the whim of whoever ran the studio”, Rogers said, in a 2012 radio interview. In the film, Trapper was played by Elliot Gould while Donald Sutherland played Hawkeye.
The two skilled doctors, Hawkeye and Trapper, blew off steam between surgeries pulling pranks, romancing nurses and tormenting their tent-mate Frank Burns (Larry Linville), with a seemingly endless supply of booze and one-liners at the ready.
Tributes have been pouring in for the star since news of his death emerged online, with one person taking to Twitter to post: “Sad to hear the news that Wayne Rogers from MASH has died, aged 82”.
Rogers also was a businessman, investing in ventures such as a film-distribution company and wine-making and bridal businesses.
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In 2005 he got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
