‘M*A*S*H’ Star Judy Farrell Dead at 84

Judy Farrell, known for playing Nurse Able in the successful television series M*A*S*H, has died, according to TMZ. She was 84 years old. Farrell’s son, Michael, told the outlet that his mother died in a hospital on Sunday after suffering a stroke nine days earlier. While Farrell was in the hospital, she was alert and could squeeze the hands of family members but couldn’t speak due to the stroke. 

Farrell appeared in eight episodes of M*A*S*H. She was married to Mike Farrell who played B.J. Hunnicutt in the series. The couple got divorced in 1983 (the same year M*A*S*H ended), and Judy Farrell then married Joe Bratcher in 1985. In her career, Farrell also made appearances on classic television shows such as Get Smart, The Partridge Family and Quincy, M.E. She also had roles in films such as Long-Term Relationship, Chapter Two and J.W. Coop. Farrell is also a TV writer as she wrote one episode of Fame and 131 episodes of Port Charles. 

In Mike Farrell’s book called Just Call Me Mike, he opened up about his marriage and separation from Judy Farrell. “The whole process was a wrenching, deeply painful ordeal for all involved, but Judy and I were able to work out a cooperative arrangement,” Mike Farrell said who went on to explain there was no third party involved, per Amo Mama. “There was just a harsh reality that had to be faced. It was awful. Sure, as I was that the decision was right, I waffled constantly, fearing that anything that inflicted so much pain on the kids had to be a stupid mistake.” 

M*A*S*H aired on CBS from 1972-1983. The series stars, Mike Farrell, Alan Alda, Loretta Swit, Wayne Rogers, McLean Stevenson, Larry Linville, Gary Burghoff, Harry Morgan, Jamie Farr, William Christopher, and David Ogden Stiers. M*A*S*H is a spin-off series from the movie of the same name that debuted in 1970. During its run, M*A*S*H earned over 100 Emmy Award nominations while winning 14 of them. The final episode, titled “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen,” was watched by 121.6 million people and was the most-watched television broadcast in American history from 1983 to 2010.