Rosalind Chao: TV wife to the stars and more

Rosalind Chao, at left, as Soon-lee in "M*A*S*H", with co-star Jamie Farr, playing Max Klinger.

Source: https://www4.fusionmovies.to/character/YEaz0kmVyv/soon-lee-soon-lee-klinger

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Corporal Maxwell Q. Klinger was an American soldier during the Korean War who desperately wanted to get home to his beloved Toledo and his wife Laverne. An uncle had earned a discharge from the army by dressing as a woman until he was given a Section 8. That meant he was deemed mentally unfit for service and was sent home.

Klinger tried to do the same thing, and even had some of his uncle’s old dresses. As hard as he tried, he never got the Section 8. However, he never stopped longing to go home, even after Laverne ran off with another man.

This was the story line through to the final episode of the legendary sitcom “M*A*S*H”. Yet, when everyone else actually was headed home, Maxwell Q. Klinger stayed behind in Korea.

What an Earth could keep a man so desperate to go home, from doing so?

Why it was a woman, a very special woman at that.

Klinger had met Soon-Lee, a local Korean girl who he fell madly in love with. They would marry, eventually go home, and star in the sequel to the series, called “AfterMASH”.

Rosalind Chao played Soon-Lee, and would go on to a long, productive acting career that would include another turn as the strong wife of another dynamic character.

It is her birthday today, reminding me of the woman who, improbably, kept Maxwell Q. Klinger from going home when the Korean War ended.

BeforeMASH
Rosalind Chao began acting at the age of five. Her first role was, at the age of 13, on an episode of “Here’s Lucy” in 1970. She was the daughter of a laundry owner.

Chao would also have guest roles in TV shows such as “Anna and the King”; “Kung Fu”; “ABC Afterschool Specials”; “The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries”; “Kojak”; “The Incredible Hulk”; “How the West Was Won”; “Emergency! The Convention”; “The Amazing Spider-Man”; “A Man Called Sloane”; “The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo”; “One Day at a Time”; “Diff’rent Strokes” for eight episodes; “Bring ‘em Back Alive”; and TV movies such as “Mysterious Island of Beautiful Women”; “The Harlem Globe Trotters on Gilligan’s Island”; “Twirl”; and “The Terry Fox Story”.

Her first film role was in 1980 in “The Big Brawl”; followed in 1981 by both “Spider-Man: The Dragon’s Challenge” and the Chuck Norris film “An Eye for an Eye”; and in 1983 by “Going Berserk”.

Then, in 1983, she had her breakthrough role.

The marrying woman
Chao played Soon-Lee in the final episodes of “M*A*S*H”, capturing the heart of Corporal Maxwell Q. Klinger. They were married on February 28, 1983 in the show’s series finale “Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen”. It was the most watched American sitcom television episode of all time.

Now Soon-Lee Klinger, she moved back to the United States with her new husband Max in the sequel to “M*A*S*H”, fittingly called “AfterMASH”. They would also have a child.

The show ran two seasons, from 1983 to 1985, for 30 episodes when it was cancelled.

Yet, that was just the beginning for Rosalind Chao.

The rest of the decade
Rosalind Chao stayed busy through the rest of the decade, appearing in movies such as “Slam Dance”; “The Tribulations of a Chinese Gentleman”; and “White Ghost.”

She was much more popular in TV shows such as “Riptide”; “Falcon Crest” for four episodes; “Jack and Me”; “St. Elsewhere”; “The A-Team”; “American Playhouse”; “Spies”; “Stingray”; “Max Headroom”; “Private Eye”; “Beauty and the Beast”; “Tour of Duty”; the TV movie “Shooter”; “Miami Vice”; and “Jake and the Fatman”.

Chao would stay just as busy in the ensuing decades, and came upon another role that made her part of the canon of one of the most popular series on the planet.

Bound for space
After a role in the TV movie “Drug Wars: The Camarena Story”; guest roles in the series “Against the Law”and “Thirtysomething”; and movie roles in “Denial”, “Thousand Pieces of Gold”, and “Memoirs of an Invisible Man” with Chevy Chase; Rosalind Chao got her next big role.

She was cast as Keiko O’Brien, botanist and wife of Miles O’Brien, chief engineer of the United Star Ship Enterprise in “Star Trek: The Next Generation”. In some ways she was like Soon-Lee, strong and supportive of her husband.

Chao appeared in eight episodes of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” in 1991-1992; then moved over to “Star Trek Deep Space Nine” when O’Brien transferred to the space station. She appeared in 19 episodes of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” from 1993 to 1999 over the seven seasons of the show.

The years after
Rosalind Chao continues acting to this day in both film and television.

She had a major role in the movie “Joy Luck Club”; as well as roles in “North”; “Love Affair”; “The End of Violence”; “What Dreams May Come”; “Enemies of Laughter”; “The Man from Elysian Fields”; “I Am Sam”; “Freaky Friday”; “Life of the Party”; “Just Like Heaven”; “Nanking”; Mulan”; and much more. She is also set to appear in the sequel “Freakier Friday” in 2025.

Chao also has done a lot of TV work in shows such as “Murder, She Wrote: “Chicago Hope”; “The Magic School Bus”; “Brimstone”; “Get Real”; “ER”; “Family Law”; “Gideon’s Crossing”; “The West Wing”; “Arliss”; “Citizen Baines”;”Once and Again”; “Dharma & Greg”; “MDs”; “The OC”; “Without a Trace”; “Monk”; “Six Feet Under”; “According to Jim”; “Grey’s Anatomy”; “Private Practice”; “CSI”; “Law and Order: Criminal Intent”; “Don’t Trus the B---- in Apartment 23”; “Bones”; “Intelligence”; “Shameless”; “The Neighbors”; “Forever”; “Castle”; “Hawaii Five-O”; “Black-ish”; “This is Us”; “Better Things”; and most recently this year in “3 Body Problem”.

Parting thoughts
When I hear the name Rosalind Chao I immediately think of two roles. One was Soon-Lee Klinger, the person who did what no one else could – give Max Klinger a reason to stay in Korea when he desperately wanted to go home. The other was Keiko O’Brien, the wife of the chief engineer of the U.S.S. Enterprise then the space station Deep Space Nine.

In both cases she was an Asian woman married to a white military man; a strong, supportive wife who also held her husband to account; and a wife who bore her husband children.

The interesting thing is, I don’t see Rosalind Chao as typecast, because as much as the roles have in common, they were very different. Soon-Lee was a refugee in a war-torn country struggling to survive. Keiko O’Brien was an educated professional in a time where poverty had been eliminated and there was more time for intellectual pursuits.

Rosalind Chao’s talent showed in her portrayal of these two iconic characters. They were not one and the same but uniquely distinct, and interesting on their own merits.