I will miss his genuine friendship” (usatoday. “My life is all the richer for having known him. We learned of his death in sequel series Cobra Kai, where the adult Daniel LaRusso attempts to continue his legacy by keeping the. “It was both my honor and privilege to have worked with him and create a bit of cinema magic together,” Macchio said in a statement regarding his longtime friend. Miyagi passed away on November 15, 2011, at the age of 86. Yuki and three daughters were with him when he died on Thanksgiving day. He is survived by his second wife, Evelyn Gurrero, his first wife Yuki, and his three daughters from his first marriage. He also had a cameo apperance in Alien Ant Farm’s 2001 music video “Movies,” where Morita spoofed his role from “The Karate Kid.” Morita gave such a memorable performance in “The Karate Kid” and will sadly be missed by fans all across America. Throughout the ’90s, Morita had small roles in movies such as “Honeymoon in Vegas” and “Spy Hard,” and starred in the 1996 Nickelodeon program “The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo” as Mike “Grandpa” Woo. Miyagi in the three sequels that followed. Morita’s most memorable role came when he played the infamous karate teacher, Kesuke Miyagi, who taught Daniel “Daniel-san” LaRusso, played by hunky ’80s star Ralph Macchio, to “wax on/wax off” in the 1984 hit movie “The Karate Kid.” With that movie, he earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and also a Golden Globe nomination. He eventually went back to reprise his role as Arnold on “Happy Days” in the 1982-1983 season. T and Tina” where he played an inventor, but the show was cancelled after just a month in 1976. He left the show after the first season to star in his own TV show on ABC entitled “Mr. His first big break was playing the original owner of Arnold’s diner, Matsuo “Arnold” Takahashi, during the first season of “Happy Days” in 1975. After working there for a little bit, he realized that he made a wrong life choice, so he quit and became a standup comedian under the name “the Hip Nip.” He became a member of the Groundlings, a Los Angeles improvisational group.įrom there, he received his first acting role as a stereotypical henchman in “Thoroughly Modern Millie” in 1967. and decided to take a job with Aerojet- General, an aerospace company who designs and manufactures rocket engines. Morita graduated from Armijo High School in Fairfield, Calif. He was told that he would never walk again, but he eventually learned how to walk again at the age of 11 when a surgeon fused four vertebrae in his spine. He was diagnosed with spinal tuberculosis at the age of two and spent the next nine years of his life in and out of Northern California hospitals. Morita was born on Jin Isleton, California and was the son of a fruit worker. 24 at his Las Vegas home of natural causes. Kesuke Miyagi in “The Karate Kid” movies, died Thursday, Nov. The fifth time, we were on a cold, blank outline stage - no sets, nothing, but in costume - but they shoot it this time for real.The entertainment world lost another one of their own recently. They make us do it again, this time in costume in front of the studio heads. … They want to see if there is chemistry. “They bring me in five times,” Morita said. The producer was shocked how good Morita was but still wasn’t sold that the Happy Days actor could hold his own. “That’s the first teeny, teeny, teeny glimpse that hey, maybe I got a shot at something here,” Morita said.ĭuring a preproduction meeting days later, Avildsen popped in the tape while Weintraub was talking, surprising everyone. At the end of the reading, Avildsen asked Morita if he wanted to take his script because he might need it. I want an actor.'”Īvildsen (who died June 16) decided he would take matters into his own hands, so a reading with just the two men was scheduled, which Avildsen recorded. “Every time my name came up in the casting process, he was adamant: ‘I don’t want a comic. “He wouldn’t even consider me for a reading,” he said. Weintraub hated the idea, Morita explained. Somehow, Morita - previously a comedian whose largest credit at the time was Matsuo “Arnold” Takahashi on Happy Days - was brought up. It all began when Weintraub and Avildsen found their Daniel in Ralph Macchio but weren’t having any luck with Mr. Ralph Macchio (Still) Dislikes 'The Karate Kid Part III' But Proud 'Cobra Kai' Fleshed Out Dynamite Villain
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