Nakahara told The Hollywood Reporter, 'I was the first Asian who didn't play one. For 'Goodbye, Farewell and Amen,' a scene was famously added to the episode in which an overnight bombing sparks a wildfire in the forest surrounding the camp, forcing an evacuation. She’d share an even more significant scene with Morgan again when it came time to shoot the show’s final episode. In 'Mail Call, Again,' she draws a laugh in a close-up shot, puffing on a cigar to celebrate the birth of Harry Morgan’s character Potter’s granddaughter. There's 'Hey, Look Me Over,' where she's the episode star, challenging Hawkeye on his superficial views and sharing two memorable dances with Alan Alda.

Nurse Kellye did not remain such a minor presence. Quiz 1980s 1970s Can you match M*A*S*H characters to the last things they said on the show? At some point, Alan said he couldn't keep calling me 'Nurse 1.' 'You're Kellye. All of a sudden, I was being written in as Nurse 123 and then Nurse Able, Baker and Charlie. She told The Hollywood Reporter in 2018, 'Gene and Alan liked me. And all of the things that I really was off-screen, they put into my character.'īeyond fleshing out her onscreen persona, Nakahara also sparked friendships that ensured Nurse Kellye stuck around. The crew noticed her antsy antics and the next thing she knew, Nakahara told NPR in 2016, the character started being shaped to be more and more like her authentic self: 'One of the scenes is me tap dancing, and it was really hilarious because I would think I was tap dancing and trying to practice tap dancing – which was awful – in my boots all the time while waiting for a scene to start. She worked out her nerves on set by doing silly things like tap-dancing to shake them out. She made her uncredited debut in the season-two episode 'Divided We Stand.'

Nakahara was initially in a minor role, as it was her first experience as a hired actor.

Soon, she landed a bit part on M*A*S*H as 'Nurse #1.' That’s where she met her husband, David Wallett, who swept her away to Los Angeles and encouraged her to try acting. Nakahara was from Hawaii, but as a young artist, she’d recently moved to San Francisco. Played by Kellye Nakahara in her first-ever acting role, Nurse Kellye appeared in 167 episodes, just 10 shy of Gary Burghoff's Radar. Dish, Nurse Kellye arguably brought the most sunshine. Of all of M*A*S*H's many nurses, from head nurse Margaret Houlihan to Hawkeye's original sweetie Lt.

Mash divided we stand