Donald Penobscot

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Donald Penobscot is a fictional character from the TV series M*A*S*H, played by two different actors, Beeson Carroll and former football player and Tarzan actor Mike Henry. His last name is perhaps inspired by the Penobscot River in Maine, the state from where the novel's author, Richard Hooker, hails.

[edit] Early mention

Donald is introduced in name only at the start of the 5th season. Tall, dark, handsome and physically very durable, he is a lieutenant colonel that Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Loretta Swit) meets while she is on leave in Tokyo. She falls madly in love with him on the spot, and he asks her to marry him right away. Margaret promptly accepts, leading to a falling out with her former flame Frank Burns (Larry Linville).

[edit] Marriage to Hot Lips

Donald is not seen until the end of the season (played by Carroll) when he comes to marry Margaret at the 4077^th. Hawkeye and BJ have a bachelor party for him, and after he passes out from drunkenness, the hosts, also inebriated, decide to play a joke on Penobscot by plastering him from his chest and his toes, intending to tell him that he had broken both his legs during the night. The cast is still on during the wedding ceremony and he is unable to move without assistance. The wedding is cut short by incoming wounded, which leaves Donald in the Mess Hall, unable to move in his body cast.

He is not seen again until he arrives to take part in the 4077^th's amateur olympics (played by Henry), and he almost wins a race with portly Sgt. 1st Class Ames, but trips over himself while showing off.

[edit] Divorce and effect on Hot Lips

Donald and Margaret's long distance marriage falls apart after she learns that he's been unfaithful to her and has requested a transfer without telling her. Becoming engaged to him initially made her a happier, friendlier woman, but divorcing him made her even stronger, especially after he was demoted.

After their divorce, Margaret becomes noticeably kinder to Hawkeye and B.J.- especially by the 9th and 10th seasons.

M*A*S*H

Film: MASH TV series: M*A*S*H | Trapper John, M.D. | AfterMASH | W*A*L*T*E*R Characters: Hawkeye Pierce | Trapper John McIntyre | Duke Forrest | B.J. Hunnicutt | Henry Blake | Sherman T. Potter | Frank Burns | Margaret Houlihan | Charles Winchester | Radar O'Reilly | Father Mulcahy | Maxwell Klinger | Igor Straminsky | Sidney Freedman | Col. Flagg | Spearchucker Jones | Ugly John | Walter Koskiusko Waldowski | Ho-Jon | Lieutenant Dish | Donald Penobscot Episodes: Season 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 Books: M*A*S*H: A Novel About Three Army Doctors | M*A*S*H Goes to Maine Related material: Continuity errors and anachronisms | Guest stars | Differences between book, film and TV versions of M*A*S*H | Suicide Is Painless