Pat Morita

Noriyuki “Pat” Morita (June 28, 1932 – November 24, 2005) was an American actor of Japanese descent who was well-known for playing the roles of Matsuo “Arnold” Takahashi on Happy Days and Mr. Miyagi in the The Karate Kid movie series, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1984

Pat Morita was born in Isleton, California. He developed spinal tuberculosis at the age of two and spent the bulk of the next nine years in Northern Californian hospitals, including the Shriners Hospital in San Francisco. For long periods he was wrapped in a full-body cast and was told he would never walk.
After a surgeon fused four vertebrae in his spine, Pat finally learned to walk again at the age of 11. By then, his Japanese American family had been sent to an internment camp to be detained for the duration of World War II.
He was transported from the hospital directly to the Gila River camp in Arizona to join them. It was at this time that he met a Catholic priest from whom he would later take his stage name, “Pat”. For a time after the war, the family operated Ariake Chop Suey, a restaurant in Sacramento, California. Teenage “Nori” would entertain customers with jokes and serve as master of ceremonies for group dinners.

Television and Movie Career

His first movie role was as a stereotypical henchman in Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967). He also was cast as Rear Admiral Ryunosuke Kusaka, in the film Midway in 1976. Later, a recurring role as South Korean Army Captain Sam Pak on the sitcom M*A*S*H helped advance the comedian’s acting career.

He had a recurring role on the show Happy Days as Matsuo “Arnold” Takahashi, owner of the diner Arnold’s. After the first season (1975–1976), (1982-1983)

Taro Takahashi in his own show, Mr. T and Tina, the first Asian American sitcom on network TV. The sitcom was placed on Saturday nights by ABC and was quickly cancelled.

Morita gained worldwide fame playing wise karate teacher Keisuke Miyagi who taught young “Daniel-san” (Ralph Macchio) in The Karate Kid.He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as well as a Golden Globe and reprised his role as the sensei Mr. Miyagi in three sequels:

The Karate Kid (1984)

The Karate Kid, Part II (1986),

The Karate Kid, Part III (1989)

The Next Karate Kid (with Hilary Swank).

Morita went on to play Tommy Tanaka in the TV movie Amos (for which he received Golden Globe Award and Emmy Award nominations), starring Kirk Douglas.

He then starred as the title character in the ABC detective show Ohara which aired in 1987 and ended a year later due to poor ratings.

He then wrote and starred in the World War II romance film Captive Hearts (1987).

Late in his career, Morita starred on the Nickelodeon television series The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo and had a recurring role on the sitcom The Hughleys. He also made a guest appearance on an episode of Married With Children. He went on to star in Talk To Taka as a sushi chef who doles out advice to anyone that will hear him. In 1998, Morita voiced the Emperor of China in Disney’s 36th animated feature Mulan and reprised the role in Kingdom Hearts II and Mulan II, a direct-to-video sequel.
One of Morita’s last TV roles was as Master Udon on the SpongeBob SquarePants episode, “Karate Island”. The episode was dedicated to him after he died about six months after its first run. One of his last film roles was in the 2005 independent feature film, Only the Brave, about the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, where he plays the father of lead actor (and director) Lane Nishikawa.

His last movie was Royal Kill, which also stars Eric Roberts, Gail Kim, and Lalaine and is directed by Babar Ahmed