Actor Patrick Adiarte, who played Ho-Jon during the first season of M*A*S*H, died last Tuesday (April 15) at the age of 82. The character of Ho-Jon was in both the 1968 novel and the 1970 movie, where he was played by Kim Atwood. In the television series, Ho-Jon played a significant role in the pilot episode, with Hawkeye and Trapper throwing a party to raise money to send Ho-Jon to the United States to attend college.
Despite raising the money, thanks to a raffle involving Lt. Dish, Ho-Jon remained in South Korea, serving as the Swamp’s houseboy. Adiarte appeared in six additional episodes during Season 1: “The Moose,” “Cowboy,” “Henry, Please Come Home,” “I Hate a Mystery,” “Germ Warfare,” and “Ceasefire.”
Born in the Philippines, Adiarte and his mother and sister were imprisoned by the Japanese during World War II and his father was killed while serving in the U.S. Army. After the war, along with his mother and sister, Adiarte emigrated to the United States. He started his acting career in the early 1950s on Broadway in the musical The King and I, which ran from 1951 to 1954. The Internet Broadway Database lists him as “Royal Child – Replacement” with no specific dates.
The musical was briefly revived on stage in April and May of 1956 with Adiarte portraying Prince Chulalongkorn. A movie version was released in June 1956, with Adiarte also playing Prince Chulalongkorn.
(Coincidentally, when M*A*S*H debuted on CBS in September 1972, it aired after Anna and the King, a television version of The King and I that only ran for 13 weeks. The executive producer of Anna and the King was none other than Gene Reynolds.)
Adiarte originated the role of Wang San in the musical Flower Drum Song, which ran on Broadway from 1958 to 1960. He also played the role in the 1961 film version. He also appeared in the films High Time, John Goldfarb, Please Come Home!, and Step Out of Your Mind. On the small screen, Adiarte first appeared in a 1961 television special called The Enchanted Nutcracker. He made guest appearances on It Takes Thief, Ironside, Bonanza, and Hawaii Five-O.
From 1965 to 1966, Patrick Adiarte was a regular on the musical variety series Hullabaloo. Here he is performing his song “Five Different Girls” on an October 1965 episode:
Around the time M*A*S*H debuted on CBS, Adiarte guest starred in two episodes of The Brady Bunch on ABC in which the family travels to Hawaii and find themselves cursed by a tiki figure. Following his stint on M*A*S*H, Adiarte only made a handful of additional TV appearances. According to his Internet Movie Database page, his acting career ended with a two-part Kojak episode that aired in September 1974.
Obituaries can be found at The Hollywood Reporter and Forbes.
(Thanks to Dan.)
RIP to Patrick Adiarte. I didn’t see his HULLABALOO episodes until the 1990s, and just a look at him with his hair back a bit (it was pretty shaggy then) I recognized him as Ho-Jon/David (the young man who was the Bradys tour guide in Hawaii). I also saw him on IRONSIDE once.
We were so fond of his character in the MASH tv show.