His father, who owned a grocery store, was an immigrant from the Beqaa Valley area of what is now Lebanon and his mother, a seamstress, was a first-generation Lebanese American who grew up in Iowa.

[14][3][15][2] It was there that he was spotted by an MGM talent scout and offered a screen test for the film Blackboard Jungle,[16] where he played the role of Santini.

[9][3] Sherwood Schwartz noticed Farr on an unsold TV pilot and cast him on The Red Skelton Show in 1955, where he played Snorkel, whose large nose gave him an inhumanly strong sense of smell.

[21][15][14] Klinger provided comic relief in his desperate attempts to be given a Section 8 discharge[4] by wearing elaborate women's outfits with accessories such as boas, a fruit hat, and fashion headscarves.

[14][10] At the time, Farr was still a struggling actor and was most concerned about the $250 paycheck from the M*A*S*H job so he could buy groceries and pay rent; he never expected to be invited back for several more episodes.

He frequently mentioned hot dogs from Tony Packo's Cafe and was a fan of the baseball team, the Toledo Mud Hens.

This was done for two reasons: first, to show Klinger's respect for his new role and his increased maturity; and second, because Farr didn't want his two young children to be teased about their father wearing dresses on TV.

[15] Farr was also the sole cast members who had actually served in Korea, and the dog tags he wore as Klinger were his own from his time in the service.

[5][14] His other shows have included Say Goodnight, Gracie,[33][34] The Last Romance,[14] George Washington Slept Here,[35] Catch Me If You Can,[36] Don't Dress for Dinner,[1] Lend Me a Tenor,[37] Tuesdays with Morrie,[38][14] and Oklahoma!.

[21][24][6] Between 2007 and 2008,[39] Farr, Chuck Woolery, and Bob Eubanks were rotating hosts of the $250,000 Game Show Spectacular[40] at the Las Vegas Hilton.

Between 2016 and 2018, he promoted M*A*S*H and other classic television series on MeTV[citation needed] and in 2022 was attending large-scale events like Comic Con to meet fans of the show.

He finished out the week of shows until an understudy was found, then flew home to California, where he had a stent put into his heart to treat atherosclerosis.

"[48][49] Tony Packo's Cafe, a restaurant referenced several times by Klinger on M*A*S*H, displays a hot dog bun signed by Farr at their establishment.

The following year, the Jamie Farr Toledo Classic, an annual LPGA tour stop, held its inaugural event in Sylvania, Ohio.

Sponsored by Kroger, Owens Corning, and O-I Glass,[51][2][52][54][6] the tournament raises money for children's charities, including the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

[3] Two of the dresses he wore as Klinger had previously been worn by Ginger Rogers and Betty Grable and are now owned by the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

[56][57] In 2001, he received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor from the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations[58] and in 2016 was given the Arab American Institute Foundation's Special Recognition Award.