he would enter the name in his little black book. It was to be a reference for him when a part came up in a show, and he needed to be reminded who would be best to play it. I made his little black book and when Larry Gelbart created Klinger Gene immediately thought of me. I came on for one day and stayed for eleven years.
Yes, people are very surprised to hear that I served in the real US Army and in Korea. However they are mistaken when they think I served in the Korean War. I served in Korea on temporary duty and during the peace treaty.
Is it true that you later wore your real US Army dog tags when you played Klinger in M*A*S*H? Klinger was originally intended as a short-term Yes, I did indeed wear my real dog tags. I was looking for them the other day to check out my blood type… On the tags are your name: Jameel Joseph Farah, your serial number, blood type and religion. I could not find them but I have not given up hope yet. There are a few places I have not looked at. When I arrived on the show they had too many characters for that half-hour sitcom, and too many characters that mirrored one another. Klinger was such an unusual character, not only for this series, but anywhere, so the producers felt he was worth How did you come to be cast in the role of Corporal Klinger? keeping. They began to shake the show down by getting rid of characters that were too similar and added nothing to the story lines. I happened to be I did a guest role of a stand up comedy Indian on the TV series F Troop. The director was Gene Reynolds who later went on to produce the series MASH. Whenever he worked with an actor he liked lucky. role. How did he come to be a permanent member of the cast?