In the Henry Blake death announcement ("Abyssynia, Henry"), the only one really crying was Loretta Swit's Margaret.  I remember seeing it as a little kid and asking my mother, "Why aren't they more upset?"  (Even at the age of 7 or 8 I wanted to see tears!) She said, "You can see it in their eyes."  Viewing it as an adult, I see she was right.  Great, pained expressions.  Killing off beloved main characters seems to be a regular occurrence  nowadays, but MASH got there first.  
In "Sometimes You Hear the Bullet", Alan Alda's Hawkeye cries when his friend dies on the operating table and is shocked at his response.  ("I've seen so many men die.  Why haven't I cried for them?" ) In a much later interview, Alda expresses dissatisfaction with his own crying.  He didn't think he was a good enough actor at that time to pull it off effectively.  I myself prefer the scene to two of his later, more histrionic ones.  In both "Bless You Hawkeye" and the finale, "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" Alda dissolves into hysterical screaming and sobbing after repressed memories surface.  I love a good sobbing/ugly crying scene, but for some reason these two feel more to me like grandstanding.  I'm not entirely sure why I feel this way.  
I feel the same way about Mike Farrell's big crying scene in "Period of Adjustment."  In that one, his character B.J. freaks out after Radar meets B.J.'s toddler daughter and she calls him "Daddy" after seeing him in his army uniform.  He responds with a long and brutal bout of sobbing and crying.  I give Farrell kudos for going there and producing lots of tears, but it just doesn't do it for me.  
I much prefer David Ogden Stiers' quietly devastating work as snooty Charles.  in "Foreign Affairs" he realizes that his staunch conservative background will not allow him to pursue a relationship with a woman who may be the love of his life, and a tear rolls down his cheek as he breaks up with her.  I'm not always the biggest fan of "one silent tear" scenes, but this was such a heartfelt performance that I make an exception   And this was rare for the early 80s.  
"The Life You Save" features seriously intense, moving work from Stiers.  He has a scene with a dying soldier in which he begs him to explain what he is seeing and feeling.  The tears and depth of feeling he produces are incredible.  
Stiers also cries in a scene in which he is not even the featured player!  In "Old Soldiers", Harry Morgan's Colonel Potter is reminiscing about his cherished WWI comrades, who are all dead now.  There are tears on Stiers' face as he listens.  Nothing is made of it.  It just seems to have been his genuine reaction as he listened to Morgan's moving performance.  
William Christopher's Father Mulcahy cried in "Blood Brothers", breaking down as he gives a sermon comparing his own selfish, petty behavior with that of a soldier who was just told he had leukemia, but put the welfare of his wounded buddy above his own.  This is one of the most moving monologues I have ever seen on TV, so beautifully acted.  
Those are the scenes that stand out for me (I know there are more).  Would love to hear any other thoughts/opinions.   
 
 

Last edited by Squonk (September 19, 2014 12:32 am)

That sounds like the first part of the M*A*S*H finale, and the man was Hawkeye. He'd had a nervous breakdown and was telling the psychiatrist about an outing the group had.

Thanks, Psychic Girl.  I'm glad someone agrees with me about David Ogden Stiers.  He was much less showy than Alan Alda, but I found his emotional scenes so much more affecting and real.  "The Life You Save" was extraordinary.  His character was so aloof and superior most of the time, but the few times he let his guard down and showed his human side, it was very moving.  Incredible actor.  
And yes, the scene where Alan Alda breaks down after remembering that the woman killed her baby and not a chicken was from the finale, "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen."  




 

Punkchick:  I'm pretty sure the episode you are remembering is "Period of Adjustment" (season 8, episode 6). I detailed the plot in the third post (above).  B.J. does end up literally sobbing on Hawkeye's shoulder.  It is a seriously intense crying scene.  I had never seen anything like it back in 1979, and you don't even really see much like it today.