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by Randy CassinghamRandy Cassingham’s Honorary Unsubscribe Recognizes the Unknown, the Forgotten and the Obscure People who Had an Impact on Our Lives
Noriyuki Morita
Morita, an American born in California, spent most of his childhood in the hospital suffering from spinal tuberculosis. Almost immediately upon his release he was sent to a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II. “One day I was an invalid,” he said later. “The next day I was public enemy No. 1 being escorted to an internment camp by an FBI agent.” After the war, he turned to stand-up comedy, but didn’t find many gigs as a Japanese-American comic after the war. He found his niche in acting, took the name “Pat” Morita, and played sometimes racially demeaning roles in films like Thoroughly Modern Millie and in TV shows including The Odd Couple, M*A*S*H and Love, American Style. His big break came when he was cast as “Arnold” in Happy Days, and then as the Sensei in The Karate Kid film and its three sequels. He died November 24 at 73. The cause of death was variously reported as heart failure, or kidney failure while awaiting a kidney transplant.
From This is True for 20 November 2005
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