TOLEDO, Ohio — Jameel Joseph Farah was born to parents Jamelia and Samuel on July 1, 1934. His mother was a seamstress. His father was a grocer in north Toledo at a store on the corner of Locust and Ontario streets.
Farah graduated from Woodward High School, served in the army, and decided he would further his education. He told WTOL 11 he considered attending the University of Toledo for drama and almost ended up going to Bowling Green State University.
Instead, he set his sights on Hollywood. He went on to get his higher education at Pasadena Playhouse, known as the official state theater of California.
He said goodbye to Toledo in 1952, and followed his sister to California.
"I couldn't see myself remaining in Toledo and going into the grocery business," he said.
It was there that he got his start in film and adopted the name by which he's now known and loved in 1959: Jamie Farr.
Farr said he has fond memories of his time in Toledo. He remembers listening to radio programs starring many of the same people with whom he is now friends.
He talked about sneaking out with his childhood friends to go to Riverside Park, even recounting a time his parents disciplined him for doing so. He said his mother died before the city renamed it after Farr.
"Unfortunately, my mother didn't live long enough to know it became Jamie Farr Park," Farr said. "I was going to tell her, 'you gave me a spanking for going to my own park.'"
Farr said his Toledo roots followed him to Hollywood.
"A lot of times I'll go some places and they'll say, 'That's where Danny Thomas is from and that's where you're from,'" Farr said.
Farr and Thomas - the latter of whom founded St. Jude Children's Research Hospital - were born more than 20 years apart. Thomas dropped out of Woodword High School and went into show business. Farr said he was a student when Thomas received his honorary diploma from Toledo Public. He also looks at their connection and laughs.
"Danny Thomas has a park named after him on the south side of Toledo. I have a park named after me on the north side of Toledo," Farr said, "It's the only city in the United States guarded by two noses."
Through his sense of humor, Farr's Toledo heritage has played a major role in his success.
His M*A*S*H character, Corporal Maxwell Q. Klinger, was also from Toledo. Not only that, but the writers created Klinger as a Lebanese-American, just like Farr.
Farr said the idea came from a writer on the popular show. According to Farr, the writer's father was a barber who cut Danny Thomas' hair. He also wrote jokes - and tried to sell them. Farr said Thomas was the only one who would buy them, leading the writer to model Klinger partially after Thomas as a way of saying thank you.
M*A*S*H fans know Klinger for his personality, references to the Toledo Mud Hens and Tony Packo's, as well as his propensity for dressing up in women's clothing.
When asked whether that same persona could be portrayed in media today, Farr said, "I don't even know if somebody could have played Klinger then, to be honest with you."
Farr would continue to play Klinger until M*A*S*H ended its run in 1983.
He said, after that, he had to find something to occupy his time while he wasn't working.
"I said, 'You know what? I'm going to take up that game of golf,'" Farr said.
Farr tried it and said, "Boy, I'm terrible at this. I don't think I could ever possibly learn it. That means I'll have to take a lot of practice and that'll occupy my time if I'm not working."
His experimentation into the sport led him to connect with the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). He said, despite his skill level, he received an initiation to play with professionals at the Dinah Shore Kraft Nabisco Championship.
When LPGA was destined for northwest Ohio, Farr said the commissioner reached out, and that's how he got involved in the Jamie Farr Classic - now called the Dana Open - at Highland Meadows in Sylvania.
Farr shared stories of entertaining encounters with other celebrities and of the friendships he's developed over the course of the last nine decades.
"I never imagined that all of the fantasies that I had in my mind would turn out to be as great as it has been," Farr said.
He talked about tearing up as he read a proclamation from the city of Toledo celebrating his 90th birthday. The proclamation celebrates Farr's legacy and impact on the Glass City, from the park named in his honor to Scott High School's performing arts wing and beyond.
That proclamation is included at the bottom of this story.
Farr thanked everyone who helped to make it all possible.
"Say hello and send my love to everybody in Toledo," Farr said. "I would have to thank everyone in the Toledo telephone directory for all they do for me."
All with a smile and a laugh.
"With limited looks and limited talent, I got unlimited success. I'm surprised, also, for myself," Farr said. "It's good to be seen and not viewed at 90."
FROM THE WTOL 11 VAULT