Filipino prince of 'King and I' was a Hollywood star

Little known to the younger generation of Filipinos, actor Patrick Adiarte was the prince to Yul Brynner's king.

- By PAUL M. ICAMINA

Also little known is his citizenship was granted with the help of John F. Kennedy.

What is known is that Adiarte, at the age of eight in 1952, was one of the royal children of Yul Brynner in Rodgers & Hammerstein's "The King and I," which toured America.

When the Broadway production was made into a movie in 1956 by 20th Century Fox, Adiarte was cast as Prince Chulalongkorn, the eldest son of Brynner's King Mongkut of Siam.

In 1961, he appeared in the "Flower Drum Song," another Rodgers & Hammerstein musical. It was directed by Gene Kelly, the American dancer, actor, singer, director and choreographer who later mentored Adiarte. They performed how tap dancing evolved through the years. Kelly would dub him as the next Fred Astaire, the actor famed for tap dancing.

In the hit movie version of the musical starring Nancy Kwan, Adiarte played the role of the Americanized Wang San and sang You Be the Rock, I'll Be the Roll with Pat Suzuki.

He then enrolled at the Professional Children's School where his classmate was Liza Minnelli.

Adiarte's best-known role was as part of the motley crew of the 1970s comedy series, "M*A*S*H," where he appeared in seven episodes from 1972 to 1973.