Actress Arlene Golonka, who made a memorable guest appearance during during Season 1, died on Monday (May 31) at the age of 85. Golonka’s played accident-prone Nurse Edwina “Eddie” Ferguson, who none of the men at the 4077th wanted anything to do with.
Golonka is perhaps best known to television audiences for her recurring role as Millie Swanson on Mayberry R.F.D. from 1968 to 1971. She made dozens of guest appearances throughout the 1960s and 1970s on TV shows like Car 54, Where Are You?, The Flying Nun, The Rookies, Maude, The Rockford Files, and The Love Boat.
In addition to her television work, Golonka also appeared in a number of Broadway plays and feature films.
Obituaries can be found at Deadline Hollywood, The Hollywood Reporter, and Variety.
It’s been a bad week for “M*A*S*H” guest stars whose character name also served as the title to their episode….
I know Edwina is hated by many M*A*S*H fans but I actually enjoy the episode (it is not in my top 25 but it is not in my bottom 25 either).
I also liked Golonka’s character on Mayberry.
RIP
I know this is a much reviled episode, but this was the very first episode I ever watched which made me fall in love with the show. I really cannot fault it for that reason. Besides there are some very funny line readings in here.
When Hawkeye asks to sit with Edwina
Edwina: You mean you want to sit together.
Hawkeye: I tried sitting apart. It was very painful.
Also, when Hawkeye is injured during the date
Hawkeye: Why don’t we pretend we’re waiting for the bus, or in my case, an ambulance.
RIP Arlene Golonka. You made a memorable impression in your one and only episode leading to life long love of the show.
Currently in my late fifties, it wasn’t until about 5 years ago that I discovered the show on hulu. When I say discovered it’s not like I didn’t know about the show when I was a kid, but was always outside wreaking havoc on the old neighborhood. Although I don’t know what time or Network Mash originally was shown, I definitely knew it existed at that time in my life. I started watching MASH about five years ago and have been watched every season and episode approximately 10 times, in the 5 or so years since it’s smart comedic writing and incredible acting was now understood by myself. I don’t know why dedicated fans like myself, feel as this episode is one of the worst? I enjoyed the episode with Clumsy Edwina. Every time I watched it I wondered where I had seen Gonkona before, and while 0 scrolling through what other shows she had been on and mentioned several of the shows she appeared on, even some as a reoccurring role. I watched some of those shows but don’t recall Edwina. It was as I was scrolling through the shows listed on this site that it hit me! She played a prostitute on All in the Family, in a single episode. It’s Archie’s birthday, and Archie is upset about his age and heads over to Kelsey’s Bar for a beer, so that he could skip his birthday party.. While at Kelsey’s he meets one of his old school mates whom he originally believes to be the younger brother of his schoolmate, but turns out it is his schoolmate who who tells Archie why he looks so young. His old school Chum Brad played by Larry Storch is meeting someone Archie believes is one of Brad’s girlfriends. The girlfriend turns out to be a hooker who charges Brad for dates. That character hooker is none other than Golonkla.