Alan Alda on fighting Parkinson's with laughter

Alan Alda, now 90, discussed how laughter and human connection shaped his outlook after personal health setbacks and while starring on CBS’s long-running M*A*S*H. Alda said he knows doctors who told him the show inspired them to become doctors, not actors. He also described contracting polio as a seven-year-old before a vaccine existed, recalling painful treatment at home. Earlier, he learned performance by watching his father Robert Alda in vaudeville and Broadway, including the original cast of Guys and Dolls. Alda credited the cast’s habit of staying together without breaks between takes for the bond that carried onto the screen, noting more than 100 million watched the series finale.