Eileen Saki was a Japanese-American actress and the owner of Rosie's Bar in 'M*A*S*H'.
After a brief battle with cancer, Eileen Saki, best remembered for playing the "sassy" bartender Rosie in M*A*S*H, passed away at the age of 79. Saki played a crucial role in the TV show. She was a Japanese-American actress who was born on November 18, 1943, and she was the final and longest-running celebrity to portray the owner of the infamous Rosie's Bar on the program. Saki, whose true name was Minako Borgen, entered hospice three days before her husband's Facebook post. The fact that Borgen's loving wife slept a lot and wasn't in too much discomfort was a big relief.
Sad to learn of the passing of Eileen Saki. RIP Rosie. #ClassicMASH pic.twitter.com/4xgCOyFy3T
— Classic MASH 🍸 (@ClassicMASH) May 2, 2023
On April 25, Saki's husband, Bob Borgen, wrote that the television personality was identified as having severe stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Borgen observed how the arduous chemotherapy treatment eventually proved too much for her, despite the fact that it lasted only for three weeks. Throughout her illness, her husband was by her side constantly.
Extremely sad news
— Mashaholic (@mashaholic) May 2, 2023
Eileen Saki has passed away, deepest love, prayers and thoughts to her whole family
🕯🕯🕯🕯🕯🕯🕯🕯🕯🕯🕯#ClassicMASH #mash #mash4077 pic.twitter.com/AY8Di6SV9h
"If you want to send her an encouraging card or note - now is the time. DM me if you need our address," Borgen said. Saki was featured in two lovely images that he shared on social media. In the first, she was perched on a staircase, and in the second, she was lying in bed and cuddling a blue shirt. Her eternal and bright grin was the one thing that stayed the same in both pictures.
Following this recent tragic event, Borgen's post has received hundreds of comments. "Eileen Saki passed away peacefully in Los Angeles yesterday, May 1st," her manager Camilla Fluxman Pines said in a statement to PEOPLE. "She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in January."
Fluxman added that she was a lung cancer survivor in 2004 and got a second chance at what she really wanted to do. She started auditioning and working in the industry. She also did a couple of big commercials shortly before her diagnosis.
Many often recognized her by her voice or face alone and wondered if they knew her 'from somewhere'. She also loved talking to young actors about her journey. In a Facebook post for his MASH Matters Podcast, Saki's former co-star Jeff Maxwell, who played Pvt. Igor Straminsky on the CBS series paid homage to her.
MASH Matters Podcast Facebook page posted a thank you note on behalf of Saki's husband extending appreciation for the hundreds of M*A*S*H fans who helped fill her final days with love, peace, and encouragement. They also mentioned that she read through every email and responded to as many as she could.
They said that the page would be sharing more of Saki's remembrances throughout the day and invited fans to do the same. "Our sweet, sweet Eileen. How we love you. How we will miss you," reads the Facebook page.
References:
Cover Image Source: IMDb
