Alan Alda was asked to run for political office at the peak of his career.
Alan Alda
The 79-year-old actor, who starred as Captain Hawkeye Pierce in the iconic TV series 'M*A*S*H', is an active supporter of the Democrat Party in the US and has revealed that at the height of the show's popularity in the 1970s and 1980s, he was approached about running to become a senator.
He told the Daily Mail newspaper: "I was asked to run a couple of times when 'M*A*S*H' was so popular.
"They came to talk to me on the set and said, 'You should run for senator.' I thought, 'How ridiculous! Why would I do that? I don't know anything about it. I'm an actor, not a politician.'
"They said, 'That doesn't matter, you could get elected.' That's how they chose them. 'You could get elected.'
"It doesn't matter if you can do it or not."
Alan said he's opposed to actors - such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronald Reagan - assuming political office, suggesting it undermined the credibility of the system.
He sighed: "That's the problem. I don't see any point contributing to that."