Welcome to this page. Oscar-Nominated Actor Pat Morita Died on Thanksgiving 2005
This page will be dedicated to him
Actor Pat Morita who offered the famous advice "wax on, wax off" to a young karate student in his performance as the wise Mr. Miyagi in "The Karate Kid," has died. He was 73.
Morita died Thursday at his Las Vegas home of natural causes, said his wife of 12 years, Evelyn. She said in a statement that her husband, who first rose to fame with a role on "Happy Days" I watched that on Nick at Nite reruns and loved the show.
He also acted in "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and TV series such as "The Odd Couple" and "Green Acres."
Born in northern California on June 28, 1932, the son of migrant fruit pickers, Morita spent most of his early years in the hospital with spinal tuberculosis. He later recovered only to be sent to a Japanese-American internment camp in Arizona during World War II.
Because prospects for a Japanese-American standup comic seemed poor, Morita found steady work in computers at Aerojet General. But at age 30 he entered show business full time.
"Only in America could you get away with the kind of comedy I did," he said. "If I tried it in Japan before the war, it would have been considered blasphemy, and I would have ended in leg irons."
He will truly be missd.
