(Gwilym Mumford/ The Guardian) — Alan Alda, who starred as Hawkeye in the long-running TV comedy M*A*S*H, has revealed he has Parkinson’s disease.
The 82-year-old actor told US talk show CBS This Morning that he was diagnosed with the disease more than three years ago, and had lived a “full life” since then. “I’ve acted, I’ve given talks, I help at the Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook, I started this new podcast,” he said.
Alda said he had decided to talk publicly about his diagnosis when he began to exhibit symptoms of the disease. “I had been on television a lot in the last couple of weeks talking about the new podcast – and I could see my thumb twitch in some shots,” he said. “And I thought, it’s probably only a matter of time before somebody does a story about this from a sad point of view, but that’s not where I am.”
Alda has remained active since his diagnosis, writing on Twitter: “I take boxing lessons 3 days a week, play singles tennis twice a week and take a mild pill – all Dr. recommended. I even juggle a little. And I’m not entering dementia. I’m no more demented than I was before. Maybe I should rephrase that. Really, I’m good.” (…)