Actor Alan Alda says he has Parkinson's disease

ABC ^ | July 31, 2018

[SMGFan]

Alan Alda announced Tuesday that he has Parkinson's disease.

Alda -- the Emmy award-winning actor who starred in the long-running series "M.A.S.H." as beloved combat doctor Hawkeye Pierce -- said in an interview on "CBS This Morning" that he was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2015.

[hoagy62]

I also liked Dr. Sidney Freidman, the shrink. Most of his episodes were pretty cool, especially the final episode.

Sorry to hear about Alda. He was also pretty good in the movie, “Same Time Next Year”.

Parkinsons ain’t no fun.

[so_real]

Encephalitis lethargica? Prayers of comfort for your friend and all loved ones affected by this. Like Alzheimer and cancer, PD is truly a monster.

[Blue Jays]

Good memory! Going back decades there.

[dfwgator]

And at least, unlike the actor that played Hawkeye in the movie, Alda was born in the US.

I just wonder how long until they will do a movie remake of the original M*A*S*H movie? Wonder who’d they’d cast?

[Ciaphas Cain]

He was in a comedy that Michael Moore made about 25 years or so ago called Canadian Bacon. Alda played a beleaguered U.S. president who tries to start a war with Canada in order to deflect attention away from his own disastrous administration.

It's a hella train wreck of a movie, but it does have John Candy in his final film role.

[Simon Green]

I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s just a couple of months ago. The drugs that I’ve been prescribed help quite a bit.

[JennysCool]

I think the first three or four seasons of M*A*S*H boast the funniest, most literate, scripts ever written for television, with the perfect cast to pull them off.

Those early years were genius comedy.

[seawolf101]

Sad to hear about anybody getting Parkinsons.

In Hollywood you have to be a liberal or a homosexual or abortionist to succeed. That’s just the way it is.

[DesertRhino]

Canadian bacon was a pretty good movie. I saw a review that said the jokes were too smart to work for the crowd he thought it was just pure comedy. And for the crowd who thought it was serious social commentary, the jokes were too retarded. But there was a lot of good stuff in that especially the scene where Dan Aykroyd was a Canadian traffic cop and stop the American invader with the graffiti on the truck.

[DesertRhino]

Are Steven Wright the comedian is a Canadian mountie going through the list of criminals in his jail. And the way he politely welcomed Delta Force Commandos when they invaded his office. That was a funny movie.

[Pride in the USA]

ANother celebrity has PD. Sounds like Alan alda is doing really well with sympton management.

[tm61]

thats good to hear, thanks for sharing that,

[montag813]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE eat avocados, eggs, olive oil, pumpkin seeds and supplement with Vitamin D3. Don’t waste your time with fish oil supplements. Real foods, real fats. Your brain needs them. Also important is the quality of water you drink., and staying hydrated. Also, even older adults should play video games to keep the brain engaged and sharp

[Tell It Right]

I hated all the anti-military trash in MASH. Since that was based on the Korean war (and somewhat of the Vietnam war since that was going on while the show we aired), think about it while we deal with NK today. If we had been more strident in the Korean war there might not be a NK today, or if there were it’d be smaller.

I once read that many of the stats in the MASH show were from a real MASH unit in the Korean war. You know, the stats Pierce would sometimes ramble off when he goes on one of his why-are-we-here rants. I think those #’s were pretty impressive.

[DoodleBob]

To his credit, Alan Alda never moved his family from NJ during M*A*S*H...he flew back and forth on weekends. I know he's a big lib politically, he wasn't hysterical about it.

I know many vets of the Korean War who liked the show; they said it was a pretty accurate portrayal of war, as far as Hollywood and TV go. They seemed to view the show as being more about how the human spirit manages through highly stressful situations vs an anti-war statement...indeed, many people loved the Frank Burns character and thought he was the greatest "stupid" character of all time, and his departure was when the show Jumped the Shark.

I would watch a M*A*S*H recast in 2018 with Will Smith as Hawkeye.

[alternatives?]

“I am not sure I can recall a moral equivalence to communism,”

I recall them having a couple of episodes where there was either a captured communist soldier and/or a communist solder and a doctor trapped together. I don’t recall them showing such soldiers in an unfavorable light like they did many of soldiers particularly officers who weren’t wounded or part of the hospital staff. It has been years since I have watched however.

I can’t recall a situation in Saving Private Ryan where they took a shot at the officers of the US military like they did routinely in MASH. The Germans were presented in a most unfavorable light in Saving Private Ryan unlike the enemy in MASH.

[The Sons of Liberty]

Too much coke in the 80s.

I can't help but believe the culture of recreational drug use has contributed to the increase in Parkinsons and related diseases, as well as the number of autistic kids being born.

[wardaddy]

Too bad buddy

It’s wicked stuff

Amicable enough lib

Godspeed

Hope it doesn’t drag on when the freeze starts for his sake

[dfwgator]

I also liked Dr. Sidney Freidman, the shrink. Most of his episodes were pretty cool, especially the final episode.

When I am not feeling too good about things, I always think of Dr. Friedman's advice...."Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice, pull down your pants and slide on the ice."

[dfwgator]

I would watch a M*A*S*H recast in 2018 with Will Smith as Hawkeye.

Somehow I don't think "Spearchucker" will be in the remake.