Pat Morita, 1932-2005

Pat Morita, best known for his Oscar-nominated performance as Mr. Miyagi in "The Karate Kid," died Thanksgiving Day. He was 73.

Before he found fame as Ralph Macchio's mentor, he portrayed Arnold on "Happy Days." Also, like many Japanese-Americans of his generation, he was confined during World War II.

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.

"One day I was an invalid," he recalled in a 1989 AP interview. "The next day I was public enemy No. 1 being escorted to an internment camp by an FBI agent wearing a piece."

Yet he wasn't bitter.

"Only in America could you get away with the kind of comedy I did," he commented. "If I tried it in Japan before the war, it would have been considered blasphemy, and I would have ended in leg irons. "

RIP.