Life’s work of Pat Morita

As we remember him, he will always be our Mr. Miyagi that we miss seeing on-screen for many years. I do really miss Pat Morita, he was a great actor that inspired countless martial artists around the world. In an article titled “Goodbye to Pat Morita, Best Supporting Asian,” Lawrence Downes of the New York Times said, “The movie and TV industry has never had many roles for Asian-American men, and it seemed for a while that they all went to Mr. Morita. Whenever a script called for a little Asian guy to drive a taxi, serve drinks or utter wise aphorisms in amusingly broken English, you could count on Mr. Morita to be there.

Born in Isleton, California, Morita was sent to a Japanese-American internment camp as a child. After a long bout with spinal tuberculosis and a stint as a computer programmer, Morita became a popular stand-up comic, which led to his role on TV's '70s hit Happy Days as Arnold, the malt shop owner. That in turn led to The Karate Kid.

To me, Mr. Morita was more than just a small actor. His star was shining brightly over Hollywood and people tend to recognize Mr. Morita's efforts in performing trues martial arts (e.g. The Karate Kid) many years after he departed. 

Already an experienced actor and stand-up comic (sometimes billed as Noriyuki "Pat" Morita, usually as Pat Morita), he was particularly known for his portrayal of the excitable Arnold, owner of the drive-in malt shop in the television series Happy Days (1975-76 and 1982-83), and he was the first Japanese American to star in a television series (Mr T and Tina, 1976). But it was as the diminutive "Miyagi sensei" to Ralph Macchio's "Daniel-san" that he achieved international fame - the film was a huge box-office success and Morita starred in three sequels, two with Macchio and the last with a female pupil played by Hilary Swank.

A small glimpse in Pat Morita's life

When he left the hospital at the age of 11, it was after Pearl Harbor, and he was sent to join his family who, along with 110,000 other Americans of Japanese ancestry, had been put in an internment camp:

I was picked up at the hospital by an FBI agent wearing dark glasses and carrying a gun. I think back to the ludicrous nature of it all: an FBI man escorting a recently able-to-walk 11-year-old to a place behind barbed wire in the middle of nothing!

After the Second World War, his family eventually settled in Sacramento and opened a restaurant serving Chinese food (because of lingering Japanese prejudice). After graduation, he joined an aerospace company, but at the age of 30 decided to pursue a career in comedy. Billed as "The Hip Nip", he gained a reputation in clubs, then was asked to fill in for an ailing headliner at a Hawaiian theatre. Finding an audience of war veterans, many disabled, observing the 25th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, he began by telling them he wanted to apologize, on behalf of his people, for screwing up their harbor. The audience roared with laughter and cemented the comic's reputation.

Miyagi-Do Karate Kid T-shirt

Morita made his screen début in the pastiche of Twenties musicals Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), playing (with Jack Soo) one of two Orientals assisting Beatrice Lillie (as a white slave trader) in her nefarious activities. More than 20 other films preceded his casting in The Karate Kid, including Midway (1976), in which he played a Rear-Admiral indecisive about whether to arm his planes with bombs or torpedoes. He auditioned five times for his star-making role, which he won despite the producers' wanting a Japanese rather than Japanese American actor - they were considering Toshiro Mifune. To make him sound more ethnic on the credits, they asked Morita to use his given name, Noriyuki, rather than his stage name of Pat.

He proved perfect casting, catching the enigmatic character's endearing quirkiness (in one scene he teaches Macchio how to catch flies with chopsticks) and vulnerability (in a memorable drunk scene - partially written by Morita - he confesses his enduring sorrow that his wife and child both died during the child's birth at an ill-equipped internment camp). Morita lost the Oscar to the Cambodian actor Haing S. Ngor (for The Killing Fields).

Morita, who earned an Oscar nomination for “The Karate Kid,” died Nov. 24 at his Los Angeles home of natural causes. He was 73. We truly miss him!