Christopher was born in Evanston, Illinois, in a family believed to be descendants of Paul Revere. He received a Bachelor of Arts in drama, focusing on Greek literature from Wesleyan University, where he participated in fencing, soccer, and the glee club.
He worked on Broadway for several years and then went to Hollywood and appeared in films such as The Fortune Cookie, The Private Navy of Sgt. O’Farrell, The Shakiest Gun in the West, With Six You Get Eggroll and Hearts of the West. He made appearances on TV shows including The Andy Griffith Show, Death Valley Days, The Patty Duke Show, and The Men from Shiloh.
He was a regular on Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. as Private Lester Hummel, before getting his most recognized role as Father Francis Mulcahy on the television series M*A*S*H from 1972 to 1983 and its spinoff AfterMASH. One of his last roles was that of a priest (Father Tobias) on the daytime drama Days of Our Lives.
His wife Barbara appeared with him in the M*A*S*H season 4 episode “Dear Mildred”, where they sang the song “All Dressed Up and No Place to Go” in a duet.
Christopher, whose son Ned has autism, devoted much of his spare time to the National Autistic Society, doing public service announcements to bring attention to autism. In 1985, his wife and he wrote Mixed Blessings, a book about their experiences in raising Ned.
Christopher died in 2016 of non-small-cell carcinoma (lung cancer).
His first census was the 1940 census of New Trier, Illinois, where he lived with his parents, two brothers, and a servant.
Click on the census for a larger view.
Sources
- Wikipedia.org
- Ancestry.com
- Onthisday.com
- Picryl.com
- Youtube.com
Famous People and Their First Census 