M*A*S*H star Alan Alda: I’ve had Parkinson’s for three years
ACTOR Alan Alda has revealed he has Parkinson’s disease.
The star of the long-running series M*A*S*H was diagnosed three years ago but says he can still live a full life.
Mr Alda, 82, says he regularly plays tennis and has boxing lessons three days a week. He even tweeted a picture of himself juggling, adding he had spoken out ‘to encourage others’ with the same progressive nervous system disorder.
‘If you get a diagnosis, keep moving!’ he said. ‘I’ve had a full life since. It hasn’t stopped my life at all. I’ve had a richer life than I’ve had up until now.’ From 1972 to 1983, the award-winning actor played Captain Hawkeye Pierce in M*A*S*H, the hit comedy-drama set in a Korean War medical unit.
He has also enjoyed a successful film career and was nominated for an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 2004 movie The Aviator.
Mr Alda said on US TV that he went to his doctor when he noticed his thumb twitching in TV interviews. He had also been ‘acting out’ his dreams, which he knew was a symptom of Parkinson’s.
Mr Alda, who has daughters and eight grandchildren with his wife of 61 years, Arlene, said: ‘I was having a dream that someone was attacking me and I threw a sack of potatoes at him – but what I was really doing was throwing a pillow at my wife.’
He said he had decided to speak out because ‘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.’ He added he now knew Parkinson’s disease was different for everyone and that ‘each day is different from the next’. ‘You don’t know what it’s going to be, but the main thing is there’s stuff you can do,’ he said.
Other celebrities who have gone public with the condition include singer Neil Diamond, 77, who stopped touring in January after revealing his diagnosis. Actor Michael J Fox, 57, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1992 and started a foundation to search for a cure.
Around 8,000 adults in Ireland have Parkinson’s, which affects motor skills.