Father John Patrick Francis Mulcahy
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
| M*A*S*H character | |
| Father Mulcahy | |
|---|---|
| Rank | Captain |
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | Blond |
| Eye color | Brown |
| Home city | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Film portrayer | Rene Auberjonois |
| Television portrayer | William Christopher (George Morgan for the pilot) |
John Patrick Francis Mulcahy is a principal character from the film, M*A*S*H played by Rene Auberjonois and the television series version played by William Christopher.
The character, named Father John Patrick 'Dago Red' Mulcahy, in the film is a US army chaplain assigned to the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War. Despite his position, few of the worldly staff members take him seriously and regard him as a professor of empty religious rhetoric and meaningless morality.
In the television series, the character began in the same style, but the character began to evolve. For instance, Father Mulcahy initially had a difficult time helping in the operating room without being physically revolted at the blood and gore, but eventually proved an able assistant beyond his spiritual duties. Outside the surgery, the priest gradually gained the respect of the staff with his emerging courage and wisdom in the most difficult circumstances. This included when he had to perform an emergency tracheotomy (using a pocket knife and a pen) while under fire and many times he provided critical advice for various staff members. In addition, he eventually revealed numerous practical skills like being a champion amateur boxer as well as numerous connections he's needed for helping others, including black market contacts. However, this respect did not extend beyond the camp considering Mulcahy's long and frustrating struggle to get promoted which finally took a personal appeal by CO Col Sherman T. Potter to the responsible officer at The Pentagon to achieve.
In the series finale, Goodbye, Farewell and Amen, Father Mulcahy was wounded and deafened during a mortar attack and he begged B.J. Hunnicutt to keep it a secret. He elected to stay in Korea after the cease fire to care for other deaf people.
However in the short lived sequel series, After M*A*S*H, the priest decided to return to America to work in a veterans hospital with his hearing partially recovered.
External links
- Finest-Kind.net (http://www.finest-kind.net/characters/mulcahy.php) - M*A*S*H website with character profile
- Best Care Anywhere (http://www.bestcareanywhere.net/fathpic.htm) - M*A*S*H website with character profile
Categories: M*A*S*H characters | Fictional Catholics | Fictional clergy and religious | Fictional soldiers
