Allan Arbus, Acerbic Psychiatrist on ‘M*A*S*H,’ Dies at 95

Allan Arbus , who left the successful fashion photography business he and his wife, Diane , built to become an actor, most memorably playing the caustic psychiatrist Maj. Sidney Freedman on the hit television series “M*A*S*H ,” died on Friday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 95.

Amy Arbus, his daughter, confirmed his death.

Mr. Arbus appeared in films like “Coffy” and “Crossroads” and was a TV regular during the 1970s and ’80s, appearing on “Taxi,” “Starsky & Hutch,” “Matlock” and other shows. But his best-known role was Major Freedman, the liberal psychiatrist who appeared in a dozen episodes of “M*A*S*H.” He treated wounds of the psyche much as Capt. Hawkeye Pierce treated surgery patients: with a never-ending string of zingers.
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