M*A*S*H Star Alan Alda Is Doting Dad to 3 Kids despite Traumatic Childhood & His Mom’s Gaslighting
Hollywood actor, director, and writer Alan Alda is a doting husband and father. However, his childhood was laid with trauma and rocky relationships with his parents.
Alan Alda, born Alphonso Joseph D’Abruzzo on January 28, 1936, in New York City, is most known for his role as Hawkeye Pierce on “M*A*S*H,” which ran from 1972 to 1983.
Before his successful career, filled with acting, writing, and directing credits, Alda lived a rocky life growing up with his actor and singer father, Robert Alda, and his mother, Joan Browne.
Alan Alda at the Television Critics Association Summer Tour, 2001, Pasadena, California. | Source: Getty Images
In his memoir, “Never Have Your Dog Stuffed — and Other Things I’ve Learned,” Alda detailed his childhood including, attending burlesque shows that his father performed in and his relationship with his parents.
ALDA’S CHILDHOOD
“The Four Seasons” actor also wrote of his mother and her struggles with her mental health. During the 40s and 50s, mental illness was not spoken about, so Alda dealt with his mother’s issue alone:
“How much easier it could have been for my father and me to face her illness together; to compare notes, to figure out strategies. Instead, each of us was on [our] own.”
Alan Alda and Mike Farrell pictured in onset for “M*A*S*H.” | Source: Getty Images
He detailed one particular incident where he had stayed up with his mother, as Robert was late to get home from his performance at the club below them.
When Robert got home, his wife accused him of sleeping with another woman. The altercation led to Alda’s mother attempting to attack his father with a paring knife.
However, before anyone was harmed, Alda, who was only six years old at the time, grabbed the knife from his parents and rammed it into the table, bending the point.
Alan Alda pictured in 1978. | Source: Getty Images
Later, Alda tried to bring up the traumatic situation with his parents, however, his mother told him he had imagined the incident, and his father said nothing about the situation.
Besides dealing with his mother’s unstable mental health condition, Alda lived an interesting childhood which saw him watching burlesque shows at a young age and making his first stage debut as a baby.
Another intriguing anecdote Alda shared in his memoir was when, as a two-year-old, his father had posed him with a tobacco pipe for a newspaper to get publicity for the burlesque club at which he worked.
Alda shared the details of the article about him smoking as a baby and wrote that his mother had told the news outlet that he wanted to be an actor like his father.
