Pat Morita

Noriyuki "Pat" Morita (June 28, 1932 – November 24, 2005) was a stand-up comic, as well as an American film and television actor who was well known for playing the roles of Matsuo "Arnold" Takahashi on Happy Days and Mr. Kesuke Miyagi in the The Karate Kid movie series, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1985. Additional notable roles include the Emperor of China in the Disney animated film Mulan (1998) and Ah Chew in Sanford and Son (1974–1976). Morita was the series lead actor in the 1976 television program Mr. T and Tina, regarded as the first American sitcom centered on a person of Asian descent, and Ohara (1987–1988), a police-themed drama. Both made history for being some of the few TV shows to this day with an Asian American series lead. Both television shows were aired on ABC, but they were both short-lived. 2Early life Morita was born in Isleton, California. Morita's father Tamaru, born in 1897, had emigrated to California from Kumamoto Prefecture on the Japanese island of Kyushu in 1915. Tamaru's wife Momoe, born in 1903, had emigrated to California in 191