MASH and The King and I star Patrick Adiarte dies at 82 following health battle
Actor Patrick Adiarte, known for his roles in M*A*S*H, The King and I, and Flower Drum Song, has died at the age of 82.
The Philippines-born performer passed away on Tuesday in a Los Angeles-area hospital after suffering from pneumonia.
His death was confirmed by his niece, Stephanie Hogan, to The Hollywood Reporter.
Adiarte had been struggling with illness in recent weeks before his passing on April 15.
The actor and dancer had enjoyed a distinguished career spanning stage, film and television.
Born in Manila on August 2, 1942, Adiarte endured a harrowing early life.
He, his sister Irene, and their mother Purita were imprisoned by the Japanese on the island of Cebu during World War II in February 1945.
The siblings were burned when Japanese forces lobbed grenades at them during an escape attempt.
A month later, their father, a captain for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was killed.
The family arrived in New York through Ellis Island in June 1946, seeking medical treatment for Irene’s extensive facial scars.
While in America, Adiarte joined the Broadway cast of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I in 1952, playing one of the royal children.
He later graduated to the role of Prince Chulalongkorn in the 1956 film adaptation starring Yul Brynner, whom Adiarte considered a surrogate father.
M*A*S*H fans remember him as Ho-Jon, the orphaned Korean houseboy who assisted Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper John McIntyre in seven episodes during the first season of the beloved CBS series.
His character presumably left to attend medical school in the States.
Adiarte was cast in Flower Drum Song in 1958 as the wise-cracking, Americanised second son Wang San.
In the Rodgers & Hammerstein production directed by Gene Kelly, he sang You Be the Rock, I’ll Be the Roll with Pat Suzuki.
He later returned for the 1961 Universal film adaptation.
Kelly became a mentor to Adiarte, once proclaiming during an NBC variety show appearance: “If there’s gonna be another Fred Astaire, I think it might as well be Pat.”
Kelly also helped him secure a dancing job on Italian television for about a year.
Adiarte made a memorable guest appearance on The Brady Bunch in 1972, playing a construction gofer who gives the family a tour during their Hawaiian holiday.
The three-part episode kicked off the fourth season of the ABC series.
He also appeared in other popular television shows including Hawaii Five-O, Kojak, It Takes a Thief, Ironside and Bonanza.