Mike Farrell

Early life

Farrell, one of four children, was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, the son of Agnes Sarah Cosgrove and Michael Joseph Farrell, Sr. When he was two years old, his family moved from South St. Paul to Hollywood, California, where his father worked as a movie studio carpenter. Farrell attended West Hollywood Grammar School with Natalie Wood, graduated from Hollywood High School, served in the United States Marine Corps serving at Camp Hansen, Okinawa. After discharge he worked at various jobs before his acting career.

Early career

During the 1960s, Farrell guest-starred in a few series. Notable roles included playing a young USFS 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 in lobby (uncredited) in The Graduate in 1967; astronaut Arland in the episode "Genie, Genie, Who's Got the Genie?" on I Dream of Jeannie; and an Army doctor in the episode "The Bankroll" of Combat!. In 1968, he originated the continuing role of Scott Banning in the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives. In 1970, he starred as one of the young doctors in the CBS prime-time series The Interns, in a cast led by Broderick Crawford. In 1971, he played the assistant to Anthony Quinn in ABC's The Man and the City. In 1973, while under contract to Universal Studios, Farrell starred with Robert Foxworth in The Questor Tapes. During the years under contract, he guest starred in a number of shows, including Banacek, Mannix, Marcus Welby, M.D., and The New Land; and starred in a television pilot with Jane Wyman, one which did not sell. In the early 1970s, Farrell guest starred in the television western drama Bonanza.

M*A*S*H (1975–83) and later roles

Farrell's big break came in 1975 when Wayne Rogers unexpectedly departed M*A*S*H at the end of the third season. Farrell was quickly recruited for the newly created role of B.J. Hunnicutt, along with co-series lead Harry Morgan, who replaced McLean Stevenson, also at the end of the third season, opposite Alan Alda. Both Morgan and Farrell were big fans of the M*A*S*H series during its early seasons before they both joined the cast, with Morgan having also appeared as "General Bartford Hamilton Steele" in the season-three episode "The General Flipped at Dawn" (for which he won an Emmy Award for Best Guest Role in a Primetime Comedy Series). Farrell stayed with the series for its remaining eight years on the air. During that time, he wrote five episodes and directed four.

His favorite episode is “The Interview.”

In a recent interview, Farrell discussed the byplay between his M*A*S*H co-stars David Ogden Stiers and Harry Morgan: "David was like a rock; when he was concentrating, when he was being Charles Emerson Winchester III, you just couldn't get him, except for Harry Morgan. Harry could look at David and reduce him to a puddle of tears without turning an eye. David said, 'When he [Harry] looks at me and flares those nostrils; and he would be gone,' it would be such a wonderful thing to see this great big guy just reduced to a giggling idiot by Harry. Unfortunately, all I can do is to tell you, we had great fun doing the show; and much of it was laughing at some silly gag that one of us had pulled on the others." Farrell continued to stay in touch or to have dinner with his on-screen commanding officer, until Morgan's death on December 7, 2011. Farrell said of his death: "He was an imp. As Alan once said, there's not an unadorable bone in the man's body. He was full of fun, and he was smart as a whip." Prior to Morgan's death, he also added of his mentor's six-decade career: "He was one of the foundational pieces of the industry. Such honors routinely go to stars, but also belong to Morgan and other character actors who provide 'the grit and the substance and the context' for so many films and TV shows," to sum it up, he stated: "Harry has been that, par excellence, for many years."

Since M*A*S*H, Farrell has guest starred in Murder, She Wrote; Justice League; Desperate Housewives; and many others. Farrell voiced Jonathan Kent in the Superman (1996) animated series, with wife Shelley Fabares voicing Martha Kent. He also hosted several "National Geographic Presents" specials, and starred in a number of TV movies, including Memorial Day (which he co-produced); Sex and the Single Parent; Prime Suspect; Choices of the Heart; Private Sessions; Vanishing Act; A Deadly Silence; The Price of the Bride; Incident at Dark River; The Whereabouts of Jenny; and Silent Motive. He has done 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 1983 Farrell starred in the movie Memorial Day.

In 1985 Farrell partnered with film and television producer Marvin Minoff to create Farrell/Minoff Productions, a production company. Together, Farrell and Minoff produced numerous television movies. Farrell and Minoff also executive produced two feature films during their partnership, Dominick and Eugene, a 1988 Orion Pictures film which earned actor Tom Hulce a Golden Globe nomination for best actor. The pair also produced 1998's Patch Adams starring Robin Williams. Farrell and Minoff's professional partnership lasted more than twenty-five years, until Minoff's death in November 2009.

Providence (1999–2002)

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.

Political activism

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 ten years, 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.

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 dared to help her, so Amnesty International recruited a foreign doctor. Farrell was present as an observer, but was in his words, "shanghaied into assisting with the surgery" when the doctor said his help was needed. 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). She also served in the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador and in the Central American Parliament.

In 2006, Farrell appeared with Jello Biafra and Keith Gordon in the documentary Whose War?, examining the U.S. role in the Iraq War. He also serves on the advisory board of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

Publications

Farrell wrote an autobiography, Just Call Me Mike: A Journey to Actor and Activist (ISBN 1933354089), 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," 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 August 1963, Farrell married actress Judy Hayden, who was working as a high school English and drama teacher in Laguna Beach, California. They were 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), Hunnicutt's father-in-law is Floyd Hayden, Hayden coincidentally being the maiden name of Farrell's wife, Judy. Judy Farrell also acted on M*A*S*H from 1976-1983 as Nurse Able, one of the few nurses with a recurring role.

On December 31, 1984, he married actress Shelley Fabares. Her sister "gave her away" at her marriage to him.

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.