Actor Alan Alda Has Spoken Openly About His Health Struggles

Thanks to streaming, we are both blessed and cursed with hundreds of options at any moment of the day. Once upon a time if a person wanted to discover something new, they would flip through the channels until something caught their eye. Nowadays we mostly rely on the recommendations of strangers on the internet. When it comes to the algorithm, we're fed new things based on existing interests, which means stepping out of our viewing comfort zone is rare.

It's hard to say whether or not a pivotal show from the past would find its way to our televisions in the present. Every once in a while an old show appears on a streamer and suddenly all of the internet is discussing a series that was made 20 years ago. One show that deserves a fresh look is M*A*S*H. The show had an incredible ensemble cast that includes the great Alan Alda, whose health has taken a bit of a turn since he received a shocking diagnosis in 2015.

Alan played Captain Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce for 11 years on M*A*S*H. He was the chief surgeon of the unit and had a great sense of humor in a sea of deeply funny characters. Because he played a doctor for over a decade, it's hard to imagine Alan Alda struggling with his health, but he does.

In 2018, Alan was a guest on the Science Friday podcast where he discussed his Parkinson's diagnosis that he received in 2015. Alan kept his diagnosis quiet until one day when he was filming, he noticed his thumb was twitching. "I figured it was only a matter of time before somebody puts out a sad story about me," he said. He also wanted to show people that he was still living his life, despite having Parkinson's.

At the time of the interview, he was quite active, which ultimately helped his symptoms. "I take boxing lessons three times a week. Boxing is particularly good for Parkinson’s. And I march to John Philip Sousa music, and I juggle," he said. The way Alan discovered he had Parkinson's was quite astonishing. After reading an article that said one early symptom is you act out things in your dreams in real life, Alan made his doctor test him.

Alan has always been interested in science and even hosted PBS's Scientific American Frontiers from 1993 until the show's end in 2005. He enjoyed using his experience as an entertainer to help explain science in a way that wasn't intimidating or overwhelming. In 2009, he collaborated with Stony Brook University to open the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science. They help scientists and researchers talk about their work in a way that is accessible to everyone.

In 2018, Alan jumped into the podcasting world with Clear + Vivid with Alan Alda, which he started the same year he revealed his Parkinson's diagnosis. The actor told The New Yorker that he started the podcast to help his center. "Whatever income comes in from the podcast goes directly to the center," he said. "We’ve trained about 20 thousand scientists in nine different countries to communicate science better."

Alan chatted with The New Yorker in June 2022 and when asked about his Parkinson's, he said he was doing "surprisingly well." At that point, he had been diagnosed nearly eight years ago and he has since developed a tremor. But that hasn't kept him from seeing the silver lining. As he joked with the outlet, "I can play any character as long as he has a tremor."