The “M*A*S*H” family is a little smaller: Judy Farrell, who played Nurse Able on the hit CBS series, has died at age 84.
Farrell’s son, Michael, told TMZ that his mother died in a hospital on Sunday, nine days after suffering a stroke. TMZ adds that Farrell was unable to speak following that stroke but was still alert and able to squeeze the hands of loved ones.
On “M*A*S*H,” Farrell appeared in eight episodes between 1976 and 1983, sharing the screen with first husband Mike Farrell, who starred on the show as Captain B.J. Hunnicutt.
Judy, who was raised in Quapaw, Okla., caught the acting bug at Oklahoma State University and later studied theater arts at UCLA, where she met Mike, according to a 1979 People profile. The couple married in 1963 and moved to Laguna Beach, Calif., where they worked day jobs while honing their acting chops at the Laguna Playhouse.
The couple later welcomed two children, Michael and Erin. “Mike and Judy are terrific parents,” Alan Alda, who played Hawkeye on “M*A*S*H,” told People. “The clearest image I have of them both is kissing and hugging their kids.”
Judy and Mike divorced in 1983 but both got remarried. Mike, now 84 years old, tied the knot with “Coach” alum Shelley Fabares in 1984, and Judy married actor Joe Bratcher in 1985.
In other acting gigs, Judy appeared in episodes of “Get Smart,” “Room 222,” “The Partridge Family,” and “Benson.” She also played Mrs. Charlotte Miller on the TV show “Fame,” one episode of which she wrote.
Her other writing credits include the 1982 TV movie “The Kid from Nowhere” — starring Beau Bridges and “M*A*S*H” star Loretta Swit — and the “General Hospital” spinoff “Port Charles,” for which she was a scribe from 1998 to 2003.
Judy’s last onscreen appearance came in the 2006 movie “Long-Term Relationship.”
