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 from kidney failure while awaiting a kidney transplant, at 73.