Michael Joseph Farrell Jr. (born February 6, 1939) is an American actor, best known for his role as Captain B.J. Hunnicutt on the television series M*A*S*H (1975–83). In addition, Farrell was a producer of Patch Adams (1998) starring Robin Williams, and he starred in the television series Providence (1999–2002).
Farrell is also an activist and public speaker for various political causes. He has been the President of Death Penalty Focus since 1994.[1] He is a long-time opponent of the death penalty.[2] In 2001, Farrell said of the work: “I’ve wept many times. But I keep finding people who inspire me--some of them on death row, and more of them in the trenches, in the courts, in religious circles, fighting against the death penalty.”[2] Farrell has helped raise defense funds for inmates he believes are innocent.[1]
Early life
Farrell, one of four children, was born in South St. Paul, Minnesota, the son of Agnes Sarah Cosgrove and Michael Joseph Farrell.[3]
When he was two years old, his family moved from South St. Paul to Hollywood, California, where his father worked as a carpenter on film sets. Farrell attended West Hollywood Grammar School in the same class as fellow actor Natalie Wood, and graduated from Hollywood High School. He served in the United States Marine Corps from 1957 to 1959. After being discharged, he worked at various jobs before becoming an actor.[4]
During the 1960s, Farrell guest-starred in a few series. Notable roles included playing a young US Forest Service ranger in the Lassie episode "Never Look Back" (February 1967); Federal Agent Modell in the episode "Monkee Chow Mein" on The Monkees in 1967; as a bellhop (uncredited) in The Graduate in 1967; astronaut Arland in the episode "Genie, Genie, Who's Got the Genie?" on I Dream of Jeannie; an Army doctor in the episode "The Bankroll" of Combat!; and an ex-high school friend turned famous actor of Chet Kincaid in The Bill Cosby Show.
Farrell's big break came in 1975 when Wayne Rogers departed M*A*S*H between the third and fourth season. Farrell was recruited for the newly created role of B.J. Hunnicutt, along with series lead Harry Morgan, who was already signed to replace McLean Stevenson for the fourth season. Farrell stayed with the series for its remaining eight years on the air. During that time, he wrote five episodes and directed four.
Farrell hosted several National Geographic Presents specials and starred in a number of television films, including 1983's Memorial Day, which he co-produced.[9] He did two one-man shows: JFK, a One Man Show for PBS and, on stage, a national tour of David W. Rintels' play Clarence Darrow.
In 1985, Farrell partnered with film and television producer Marvin Minoff to create Farrell/Minoff Productions, a production company.[10] Together, Farrell and Minoff produced numerous television films.[11] In 1986, the company had signed a deal with The Walt Disney Studios wherein the Farrell/Minoff company would develop motion pictures and television properties.[12]
In 1999, Farrell was given the part of veterinarian Jim Hansen, the father of the lead character Dr. Sydney Hansen, portrayed by Melina Kanakaredes, on the NBC-TV melodrama series Providence. In his portrayal of Sydney's father, Farrell played opposite Concetta Tomei, who portrayed his wife, Lynda Hansen. Tomei's character died during the first episode of the series but continued to appear as a ghost/memory in vignettes of later episodes. Farrell appeared in 64 of the 96 episodes.
Farrell and Senator Debbie Stabenow in 2002.Farrell has worked on many activist campaigns.
Even before he was well-known, Farrell was an activist for many political and social causes. He was co-chair of the California Human Rights Watch for ten years, was on the Board of Advisors of the original Cult Awareness Network, and has been president of Death Penalty Focus for more than 10 years,[13] being the first person to be awarded its Human Rights Award, subsequently named after him in 2006. He received PETA's Humanitarian Award in 2001 and narrated a public service campaign for them about animal abuse.[14]
In 1985, Farrell was in Central America, helping refugees from the civil war in El Salvador. A guerrilla commander, Nidia Diaz, had been taken prisoner. She needed surgery, but no Salvadoran doctor would help her, so Medical Aid for El Salvador recruited a foreign doctor. Farrell was present as an observer for Amnesty International but was, in his words, "shanghaied into assisting with the surgery" when the doctor said his help was needed.[15] The in-prison surgery was successful, and Diaz went on to be one of the signatories of the Chapultepec Peace Accords, the peace treaty ending the war.
Farrell has been active in the Screen Actors Guild. In 2002 he was elected first vice president of the Guild in Los Angeles and served in the post for three years.[16]
In 2014, Farrell workshopped a play by George Shea that brought Charles David Keeling and his scientific work on atmospheric CO2 emissions to life.[18]
In 2016, after the US presidential election of Donald Trump, Farrell appeared in a commercial to urge Republican electors to block Trump from becoming president by having 37 electors vote for John Kasich instead.[19]
Publications
Farrell wrote an autobiography, Just Call Me Mike: A Journey to Actor and Activist (Akashic Books, ISBN1-9333-5408-9), published in 2007. The book covers his working-class childhood in West Hollywood, his break into show business, his personal life, and his increasing involvement in politics and the human rights movement in the United States, Cambodia, and Latin America. His second book, Of Mule and Man (2009, Akashic Books, ISBN1-9333-5475-5), is a journal of his five-week, 9,000-mile drive around the U.S. to promote the paperback edition of his first book.
Personal life
In 1963, Farrell married actress Judy Hayden, who was working as a high school English and drama teacher in Laguna Beach, California.[20] They separated in 1980 and divorced in 1983. They have two children, Michael and Erin. On M*A*S*H, Hunnicutt's daughter also was named Erin. Also on M*A*S*H, in the episode "The Colonel's Horse" (season 5, episode 12), a phone call is placed to Hunnicutt's father-in-law, Floyd Hayden, Hayden being the maiden name of Judy, Farrell's wife. He lives in Quapaw, Oklahoma, Judy's birthplace. Judy Farrell also acted on M*A*S*H from 1976 to 1983 as Nurse Able.
At the start of M*A*S*H's seventh season, Farrell grew a Walrus moustache for the B.J. Hunnicutt character, even though such a moustache below the upper lip was then, as now, a clear violation of Army uniform guidelines, especially when left untrimmed. The normally clean-shaven Farrell grew it out for the character, as fashion trends at the time made the moustache in general popular for the first time since the beginning of the 20th century, due in part to fellow actors such as Burt Reynolds and Tom Selleck, as well as The Mustache Gang of the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball. While Farrell retained the moustache for the B.J. character for the rest of the series and saw a rise in acting jobs because of it, Farrell himself quickly grew tired of it and did not want to be typecast with "B.J.-like roles" for the rest of his career.
^ abc"Mike Farrell (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved October 10, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
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