From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Lawrence Lavon "Larry" Linville (September 29, 1939 – April 10, 2000) was an American actor. He was known for his portrayal of obnoxious, pious, self-important and inept surgeon Major Frank Burns in the television series M*A*S*H. Description above from the Wikipedia article Larry Linville, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.