Dan Wilcox dies aged 82: Emmy Award-winning M*A*S*H screenwriter and producer passes away in Los Angeles

Emmy Award-winning screenwriter and producer Dan Wilcox has died at age 82.

Wilcox, best known for writing numerous M*A*S*H episodes, including co-writing the series’ iconic finale in 1982, died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on February 14 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

His niece Julie Merson Rothenberg confirmed his death to the WGA but did not reveal the cause of death.

In addition to Merson Rothenberg, he is survived by his wife, actress Leslie Easterbrook, 74, his sister Nina Wilcox Merson and his niece Wendy Merson Rich.

In 2017, Wilcox received the Morgan Cox Award in honor of his service to the Writers Guild and WGAW President Howard A. Rodman said at the time: ‘Dan Wilcox has been, consistently and deeply moving, a voice for writers. who have no voice.

“His work, both passionate and effective, has been on behalf of those who would otherwise lack the power to make themselves fully heard.”

Wilcox, along with Alan Alda, Burt Metcalfe, John Rappaport, Thad Mumford, Elias Davis, David Pollock and Karen Hall, wrote the M*A*S*H series finale, Goodbye, Farewell and Amen, which was seen by a total audience of 121.6 million.

It is the final and single most-watched episode of any television series in American history.

Born in New York City in 1941, Wilcox began his career writing for the CBS children’s show Captain Kangaroo.

He revealed that he “almost blew” his chance at a career in television with mediocre scripts, but his uncle Jed saved him.

He said: ‘He read my scripts and told me it had nothing to do with comedy. “Never let the character realize there’s a problem. They think everything is going perfectly and then everything falls apart!”

“Jed gave me a crash course in comedy writing that I’ve relied on my entire career.”

He began working on shows in the 1970s, including What’s Happening!! and Sesame Street, which won an Emmy in 1970 for his work on the children’s show and met his writing partner Thad Mumford in the process.

Wilcox would earn four more Emmy nominations for the talk show America 2-Nite and M*A*S*H along with five Writers Guild Award nominations, winning for the latter in 1980.

Wilcox and Mumford joined M*A*S*H for the eighth season and remained until the eleventh and final season, with Wilcox also serving as producer.

His writing credits also include Alice, Angie, Bay City Blues, Diagnosis Murder, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Cosby and Murder, She Wrote.