Abrus, who had served as a military photography in the Army and ran a fashion photography business before becoming an actor, was so convincing in his role as Maj. Freedman, that co-star Alan Alda often found himself opening up to Arbus. "I was so convinced that he was a psychiatrist I used to sit and talk with him between scenes," Alda said in an interview with the Archive of American Television. "After a couple months of that I noticed he was giving me these strange looks, like 'How would I know the answer to that?'"
In addition to M*A*S*H, Arbus also appeared in Starsky and Hutch, Cagney and Lacy and Judging Amy. His last television appearance was on Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2000.
Allan Franklin Arbus was born in New York City on Feb. 15, 1918.
I had a hard time rationalizing his being born in 1918. I counted on my fingers a number of times, that's WWI era .... I thought I was old at 80, but he has 15 years on me, and what a 15 years that was .... he was my favorite "visitor" on that show, and his appearances were always something special ..... 95 wow!
