Richard Hooker (author) - Success of MASH

Success of MASH

Hornberger worked eleven years on his debut novel, MASH, which was rejected by many publishers before he contacted the famed sportswriter, W.C. Heinz, to help him revise it. A year later, the book was acquired by William Morrow and Company. Ultimately, the book (released under Hornberger's pseudonym, Richard Hooker), proved amazingly successful. The novel quickly inspired an Academy Award-winning film released in 1970 and a widely popular television series that lasted eleven seasons. Hornberger reportedly did not like Alan Alda's portrayal in the TV series, although he viewed the original Robert Altman movie many times, in which Pierce was played by Donald Sutherland.

According to John Baxter in A Pound of Paper: Confessions of a Book Addict, Hornberger "was so furious at having sold the film rights for only a few hundred dollars that he never again signed a copy of the book" (203).