![]() Miyagi Enters His Life THE KARATE KID, PART III, Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, 1989, (c)Columbia Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection He was Arnold on Happy Days for several seasons until he left to star in his own short-lived series, Mr. Moving to Los Angeles, he managed some success and then began appearing in small roles in feature films and making television guest-starring appearances on series like Green Acres, The Odd Couple, M*A*S*H (in a rare dramatic performance), and a recurring part on Sanford and Son. Married and with a child, in 1960 he began working as a data processor for a number of operations, but feeling burned out, he began performing standup at small clubs in Sacramento and San Francisco under the name Pat Morita. Noriyuki “Pat” Morita was born June 28, 1932, in Isleton, California. (c) Paramount Television/ Courtesy: Everett Collection. It was usually a doctor, lawyer or engineer - occupations like that.” HAPPY DAYS, Pat Morita, Season 2, 1975. ![]() He was the first Asian person to do a stand up comedy act, and it was uncommon for a Japanese man to pursue an acting career. Especially for a Japanese man at the time. What I look to is that despite all that, he accomplished so much. “At the same time,” Kevin counters, “it’s understandable given all the stuff that he suffered - the illness, internment camp, his father dying in front of his eyes. com).Collision Course was a 1989 film that saw Pat team up with Jay Leno (before he realized he couldn’t act) as a pair of cops (© De Laurentiis Entertainment Group/courtesy Everett Collection) I will miss his genuine friendship” (usatoday. ![]() “My life is all the richer for having known him. “It was both my honor and privilege to have worked with him and create a bit of cinema magic together,” Macchio said in a statement regarding his longtime friend. Yuki and three daughters were with him when he died on Thanksgiving day. He is survived by his second wife, Evelyn Gurrero, his first wife Yuki, and his three daughters from his first marriage. He also had a cameo apperance in Alien Ant Farm’s 2001 music video “Movies,” where Morita spoofed his role from “The Karate Kid.” Morita gave such a memorable performance in “The Karate Kid” and will sadly be missed by fans all across America. Throughout the ’90s, Morita had small roles in movies such as “Honeymoon in Vegas” and “Spy Hard,” and starred in the 1996 Nickelodeon program “The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo” as Mike “Grandpa” Woo. Miyagi in the three sequels that followed. Morita’s most memorable role came when he played the infamous karate teacher, Kesuke Miyagi, who taught Daniel “Daniel-san” LaRusso, played by hunky ’80s star Ralph Macchio, to “wax on/wax off” in the 1984 hit movie “The Karate Kid.” With that movie, he earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and also a Golden Globe nomination. He eventually went back to reprise his role as Arnold on “Happy Days” in the 1982-1983 season. T and Tina” where he played an inventor, but the show was cancelled after just a month in 1976. ![]() He left the show after the first season to star in his own TV show on ABC entitled “Mr. His first big break was playing the original owner of Arnold’s diner, Matsuo “Arnold” Takahashi, during the first season of “Happy Days” in 1975. ![]() After working there for a little bit, he realized that he made a wrong life choice, so he quit and became a standup comedian under the name “the Hip Nip.” He became a member of the Groundlings, a Los Angeles improvisational group.įrom there, he received his first acting role as a stereotypical henchman in “Thoroughly Modern Millie” in 1967. and decided to take a job with Aerojet- General, an aerospace company who designs and manufactures rocket engines. Morita graduated from Armijo High School in Fairfield, Calif. He was told that he would never walk again, but he eventually learned how to walk again at the age of 11 when a surgeon fused four vertebrae in his spine. He was diagnosed with spinal tuberculosis at the age of two and spent the next nine years of his life in and out of Northern California hospitals. Morita was born on Jin Isleton, California and was the son of a fruit worker. 24 at his Las Vegas home of natural causes. Kesuke Miyagi in “The Karate Kid” movies, died Thursday, Nov. The entertainment world lost another one of their own recently. ![]()
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