Pat Morita kicks

[Taro Toporific]

Actor Pat Morita Dies at 73
Gained Fame in "The Karate Kid," "Happy Days"
AP, Nov 25, 2005 9:07 am, LOS ANGELES ---Actor Pat Morita, whose portrayal of the wise and dry-witted Mr. Miyagi in "The Karate Kid" earned him an Oscar nomination, has died. He was 73. Morita died Thursday at his home in Las Vegas of natural causes...more...

[Greener]

See ya in Heaven Arnold-San.

[Charles]

Sad.

I knew Pat (sorta). He came in to my computer store way back in the 1980s and I sold him a computer. He was a really nice guy. I don't remember much about that encounter, but I have a vague recollection of laughing a lot.

I looked up his bio on Wikipedia, his life story is sort of astonishing. He had spinal tuberculosis (WTF is that?!?) as a child and had to spend years in a full body cast. Then he went straight from the hospital to the concentration camps. As an adult, he became an engineering geek for an aerospace company until he got sick of it so he quit to become a standup comedian. And the rest is onscreen history.

[Cubed]

I think he had bit parts in a few cheesy 80s films. His full name was Noriyuki "Pat" Morita.
I remember a TV interview where he sneezed at the camera and said "Wax on, wax off".

[kamome]

I rushed straight to FG when I heard about Pat Morita's death. I bet many FG's who grew up in the 80's remember the Karate Kid series as their first on-screen impression of Japan and "things Japanese" (even if they were a rose-tinted Hollywood-type impression of things Japanese). I especially remember Karate Kid 2's depiction of Okinawa and the Okinawan girl that Daniel dated in the movie (I later found out that the actress wasn't Japanese--she was Korean. Can anyone verify that?)

I think this is a sad day for FG.

[emperor]

First 2 word on his imdb mini-biog: "Abundantly busy.."

he was involved in 3 movies that were released this year and another 3 that are to be released in 2006 - dispite that i think the only one i might have 'seen' (heard) him in since "karate kid" wouldve been "mulan".
..matta ne miyagi san.

[GuyJean]

I think WOWOW is running the whole 'Karate Kid' saga next month..

GJ

[maraboutslim]

Question: what the hell are these "natural causes" that are responsible for his death? I haven't heard that phrase in a long time. These days they nearly always give the actual reason - heart attack, heart failure, cancer, complications from aids or some other disease, or whatever.

[emperor]

Question: what the hell are these "natural causes" that are responsible for his death? I haven't heard that phrase in a long time. These days they nearly always give the actual reason - heart attack, heart failure, cancer...

Mexican hitwoman?

[IkemenTommy]

Dude.. that's so sad.
I used to love the Mr. Miyagi character when I was a kid.
RIP

[Greener]

Dude.. that's so sad.
I used to love the Mr. Miyagi character when I was a kid.
RIP

I guess I'm a bit older because I best remembered Morita as Arnold on Happy Days. (I was a HUGE Happy Days fan when I was a kid.) However, Mr. Miyagi was right up there with Yoda in terms of the greatest movie mentors of all time.

R.I.P. Arnold Miyagi