<Tr> <Th> Spouse (s) </Th> <Td> Louise Burns </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Hometown </Th> <Td> Fort Wayne, Indiana </Td> </Tr> <P> Major Franklin Delano Marion "Frank" Burns is the main antagonist in the film (played by Robert Duvall) and the first five seasons of the television series (Larry Linville). Burns first appeared in the original novel, where he had the rank of captain . (He is also known as "Ferret Face," a nickname first pinned on him by his brother .) </P> <P> In the novel, Burns is a well - off doctor who attended medical school but whose training as a surgeon was limited to an apprenticeship with his father in Fort Wayne, Indiana . Nonetheless, he maintains a dismissive attitude toward his better - trained colleagues, blaming others for his own failures . He unjustly accuses a rookie orderly of killing one of his patients, and nearly kills another patient, earning him retaliatory assaults from Duke and Trapper John . His medical incompetence causes Col. Blake to instead assign Trapper John as Chief Surgeon . After the "Swampmen" learn that Burns is having an affair with Major Margaret Houlihan, Hawkeye taunts him about it, baiting him to attack just as Col. Blake enters the tent . The next day, Burns is permanently sent away for psychiatric evaluation in a straitjacket, shot full of tranquilizers . </P>

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