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[inspirational instrumental music]
[Pat] Okay, then,
let's look way inside your heart and your spirit and see,
if God gave you one wish in your lifetime
to do for the rest of your life,
what would it be?
Pat Morita, a bright and witty young man,
was born in San Francisco of Japanese parents.
He tells me he's never been to Japan,
but his comedy certainly is well oriented. [chuckles]
-Well, uh, here he is, Pat Morita. -[crowd laughs and claps]
Mr. Pat Morita.
-[crowd cheers and claps] -Oh, yes.
Pat Morita, ladies and gentlemen!
[crowd cheers and claps]
[with Japanese accent] It's a great pleasure
to be back on Hollywood Palace.
[crowd laughs]
[without accent] Why am I talking like that for?
-I don't talk like that. -[crowd laughs]
[Ralph] Lenny Bruce's mother named him "The Hip Nip,"
but he hung on because now all of a sudden he had an angle.
Stand-up comedians are the hardest job in the world.
He would tend to do the same show over again,
and then he couldn't figure out why he wasn't getting laughs.
I don't think he paid much attention
to the rules of the game.
You know, he kind of did what he wanted to do.
His comedy was his, you know,
his defense, you know, in a beautiful way.
He has a funny sense of humor
because you don't know when he's serious,
you don't know when he is setting you up for a joke.
He opened for Vic Damone, Connie Stevens, and, uh,
Redd Foxx, who put him on his show.
One thing I learned with comics is they are, actually,
some of the most unhappy, tortured people,
and their comedy comes from pain.
[Robert] Pat was a very soulful guy.
He had a lot of inner demons.
He struggled a lot with depression,
and he was drinking too much,
and he was doing too much drugs.
And he hid a lot of that with the jokes and the humor.
[Karen] He told me he'd never stop drinking.
And one of the reasons he said, he didn't think he'd be funny.
[James] The first day Pat Morita came on the set,
I can tell by his sense of humor
that he was going to become somebody.
Everybody fell in love with Pat.
Kind of soft-spoken.
Then, when he would get on and be the character,
he turned into this totally other guy
and he was hysterical, you know,
everything out of his mouth was funny.
Just his innate brilliance at comedy was incredible.
I mean, just-- and he, he added so much to script and to character and--
[Henry] He was just a lovely, lovely man.
I-- He seemed to be very grateful.
He really chose to make fun of the stereotype.
He really embraced the things that many of us run away from.
[chuckles] He ran to it.
Pat went on and became a huge star,
left us all in the dust.
Really, that's what happened.
It was an incredible accomplishment for Pat
to get nominated for an Oscar.
What I envisioned when I wrote it,
he became the embodiment of that.
And he created
one of the iconic characters in American Cinema.
[gentle jazz music]
[Felicia] Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Table for 5
with Felicia and Annette. We are live.
I want to introduce our guest, Evelyn Guerrero-Morita.
Evelyn is an actor and producer,
and she's here to tell us about a love project.
My first question out of the gate
is how did you meet Pat Morita?
-[Evelyn] You have an hour? -Yeah.
[all laugh]
[Evelyn] I was about 12 years old
when I first met him. My aunt, Sally Marr,
was managing not only her son,
Lenny Bruce, but she was also managing my mother.
At the same time, she was mentoring Pat,
who was just beginning to get into stand-up comedy.
-[Felicia] Oh, wow. -[Evelyn] And so, I met him
through my mom and my aunt Sally.
But, you know, what's funny is,
if somebody had told me then
that I would marry him years later,
-I'd say, "Are you crazy? Uncle Pat?" -[Annette] Right?
-[laughs] -He was always, like, my uncle Pat.
[Annette] You know, right?
[shoes clicking]
[sighs]
[whispers] Okay, here it is.
This is a manuscript that, uh, Pat started writing in '96.
Unfortunately, he wasn't able to, to complete it.
And so his, his wish on his deathbed was
that I complete it, and get it done, and get it out there.
This was Pat's little office nook.
Pat was so cute, he never wanted to do anything in his office.
I guess he wanted to be close to me and the cats and--
yeah, he was always on the phone, you know,
and tha-- that was his spot.
Hey, George, it's Pat.
Um, I received your, uh, fax letter.
Uh, thanks for your concern and, uh, good luck.
Hope to talk to you. Bye.
[phone hangs up]
[Evelyn] He'd have piles and piles of scripts,
and treatments, and letters, and, and communications, and press and--
I said, "Honey, we got-- we have to do something with this mess."
Pat, what's on that shit pile of papers on that counter?
[Pat] I don't know. [mumbles]
[sharp thuds]
[Evelyn] Are they all important?
[Pat] Um, for the most part,
but they just need to be sorted and correlated.
[Evelyn] But are they really important?
[Pat] Huh?
[with Japanese accent] How are you? Look.
Chime in.
[Evelyn] I'm doing a documentary
about celebrity psychosis.
[gentle music]
[keyboard clicking]
[Pat] Long story short...
my name at birth was Noriyuki Morita.
That entire chapter of my life changed me forever.
When I was two years old, I was diagnosed with spinal TB.
And my parents were too poor
to get regular medical attention.
In fact, the, the mentality then was
people were afraid to go see a doctor
because the doctor might find out something.
And my parents were told, "This kid ain't going to make it.
And if he does by some miracle,
he'll never walk again for the rest of his life."
I spent, uh, nine years in a hospital,
from ages two to 11.
And, uh, for the most part was immobilized,
uh, for seven of those nine years
with a cast from shoulder to knee.
So I was either on gurneys or on a bed.
And if you're flat on your back
and you can't walk, and you're prone and,
and life goes on around you, there's--
there's not too much sense you can make out of all of that.
Uh, hey, there were kids in my ward that died.
So at least I made it through something.
[Felicia] So how was he finally able to walk?
Well, the Shriners took over his case in 1939
and they performed, uh, an experimental surgery on his spine.
I think they fused a couple of discs.
I mean, it was very, very risky.
And it was successful, and he was able to walk again.
And then, two years later, the war started.
[man on radio] Flash, Washington.
The White House announces Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
-[airplane engine rumbles] -[loud explosion]
[Pat] Uh, long story short,
I was escorted from the hospital by an FBI guy
to join my parents at an internment camp
in the middle of Arizona.
They were all behind barbed wire,
I didn't know the difference, you know,
I was just happy to be walking.
But I could feel, and sense, and hear
all the colors and horrors of incarceration,
the sadness, the hopelessness.
And I'll never forget, I got there and for the--
for four days straight, I cried.
I was homesick for the hospital
and the nurses. Well, you know, I spent
all my time up there with them and, uh,
and my, uh, ward mates and stuff.
So there was a big hole in my heart,
which my parents, of course, couldn't fill.
And they kept insisting on talking,
talking to me in Japanese, which I was so far removed from,
so it made me feel more lost.
[Japanese melancholic music]
Uncle Sam and we Americans,
we like to use euphemistic words
or invent words, uh, if we think
certain other words are too harsh.
So they called them relocation centers.
They were America's versions of concentration camps.
[Felicia] Where did they go after that? Did they relocate them,
come back to California?
[Evelyn] They moved to Sacramento
and they opened up a Chinese restaurant.
[interviewer] But why a Chinese restaurant?
Because Japanese food wasn't popular there.
-[both laugh] -Guess not.
And Japanese people were
still being discriminated against.
And, in fact, a lot of Japanese people
-claimed they were Chinese. Yeah. -[Annette] Wow.
[Pat] Racism comes in many, many forms.
It all happens a lot behind the camera,
not so much today in my time, thankfully,
but that's also a barometer of how far we've progressed.
[melancholic music]
So, did he always dream of being in th-- in show business?
No, actually, he wanted to be a doctor.
-A doctor? Wow. -Really?
He wanted to go to medical school.
-[Annette] Oh, wow. -Yeah. [softly chuckles]
[Pat] Two weeks before I was to go
start my school year,
my mother comes at big tears and, and she says, uh,
"Papa don't know how to tell you,
but you can't go to college."
"What do you mean, I can't go to college?
I'm going to college."
"No, no, you-- we really need you here."
Oh, I wanted to shoot myself, you know,
and then, of course, there's a big tug of war in a Japanese family.
I don't know about now. You have to do what your parents say.
You have to. So I went to work in my father's restaurant
and I didn't enjoy it, but I had this loyalty
to my parents, who were struggling.
[Annette] I heard he was married a few times.
Mm-hmm. Yeah, he was married twice before.
Uh, his first wife was Kay...
-[Annette] Okay. -...and they had a daughter, Erin.
And his second wife was Yuki, and they had two children,
uh, Ali and Tia.
-[Annette] All girls. -[Evelyn] He was a great father.
-[Annette] Oh. -[Evelyn] Yeah, he really loved his kids.
[Annette] That's awesome.
[Pat] Between experiencing
the first family, and raising a child, and working at the restaurant,
I wanted a so-called regular job,
a real job that paid real money.
And I found my way into working
for what would become a giant in the aerospace industry.
And in the meantime, I was 190 pounds and frustrated.
And I didn't know where I was going in life.
And, like, we all have a little Jiminy Cricket on our shoulder,
mine kept saying, "Show business."
I just made up my mind at age 30, that was it.
I said, "If I don't do it now, I'll never do it,
and for the rest of my life
I'll kick myself in the you-know-what."
And I told myself, "If I have anything at this,
I'm going to do a five-year plan."
And if I could make the Ed Sullivan Show,
number one top variety show in the country at the time,
in five years, that would be an indicator to me
that I got something enough to keep going on.
Well, I made the Hollywood Palace in four years.
And they were number two in the country.
Next we have a talented young man, very unusual,
a Japanese comedian. I know you like him,
especially all you people who understand Japanese.
[crowd laughs]
Here he is, in his first television appearance,
Pat Morita. Pat!
[crowd claps]
[upbeat music]
Okay, so much for the Japanese portion of my act.
[crowd laughs]
He would steal jokes out of the Reader's Digest.
That's how he got started.
-Imagine it. -I didn't know how to write,
and when I first began, I'd make something
from Benjamin Franklin sound like I said it.
[all laugh]
[Pat] I'm working
the Ginza West, in San Francisco.
I notice, notice this fella sitting at the end of the bar.
He says, "You know, you got a lot of promise.
You ought to come down to LA, Hollywood,
where I live and meet my manager."
"Who's your manager?"
"Oh, uh, her name is Sally Marr.
She's Lenny Bruce's mother."
I go down, I meet her.
We just hit it from the-- right from the get-go.
I said, "And you have to be very aware, very sharp,
and above the average."
[Pat] And the next thing I know,
I'm working all over the place,
"The Hip Nip," that was my billing.
[loudly laughs]
Working at a club isn't, like, working. My-- I don't have what we call an act,
-you know, I-- I figured, uh, "My people lost a war, why act?" -[crowd laughs]
[Anson] One of his first professional gigs as a comedian,
he didn't really know who he's performing for until he got there.
Well, it was a union of Pearl Harbor Survivors.
[laughs]
And there's Pat.
So he was, "Oh, how the hell do you make jokes in front--"
So, so he goes on, he goes, "Before I start,
I just want to apologize for messing up your harbor."
And then there was, like, slow laughter from the back room, they go...
[mimics laughter] "Oh!"
They started laughing, so, so,
so he had to make these self-effacing jokes.
I haven't felt this good since, uh, December 8th, 1941.
[crowd laughs]
[Pat] I come into a time where a comic
had the opportunity to work these little shows
not to do his spot so much.
But came the emergence of things likeLaugh'in.
-[woman] ...who else? -[opening theme]
[crowd laughs]
Give me sake, give me sake, give me sake, give me sake.
-[sharp thud] -[crowd laughs]
[in accent] Not me, her, you wrong-eye idiot.
[crowd laughs]
[Pat] I didn't feel uncomfortable.
I had no, no camera shyness, you know, uh...
I realized that I was merely transposing
telling a joke to a live audience
to acting out the jokes for an "out there" audience.
So that made a foundation for later on
getting into the acting genre.
[speaking Japanese]
-Hat. -[crowd laughs]
[speaking Japanese]
Love will...
[speaking Japanese]
...keep us together.
[crowd laughs]
Good, uh? Uh?
Well, oh, Pat, I-- I really have to be honest.
It was the pits, Pat.
-[crowd laughs] -The pits, Pat.
[Pat] The colonel Pak, uh, onMá*AáSá*H,
was really my first serious role
within the spectrum of a so-called comedy show.
-Good news. -I'll take it.
I had a long, reasonable talk with the farmer
-and everything's cool. -Great.
You got three days to get the hell out of here.
[crowd laughs]
[Pat] The Bob Newhart Show, uh,
I think I was a bartender.
I just can't think of the name of it.
Harvey Wallbanger.
-[crowd laughs] -Oh, Howard Borden.
[crowd loudly laughs]
Aren't you ever going to get married again?
-Why should I? -I need a mother.
You can have mine.
[calm Hawaiian music]
That'll be all, Charlie, Thank you.
I'll let you sit down and chitchat for a while.
I mean, how's your mother? Is she Chinese too?
[crowd laughs]
Yeah, she was, after Pearl Harbor.
-[loudly laughs] -[crowd laughs]
That's Deputy Captain.
You painted the wrong cabin.
Oh. Deputy Captain.
[both] You painted the wrong room.
Cabin.
I am now silent partner.
Oh, don't be a bad bird.
[crowd laughs]
If, as they say, we are what we eat,
then your friend is a meatball.
[crowd laughs]
See, Mr. Sanford,
I've had dinner here so often
that I just figured it'd be nice if I cooked for you once.
The way to a man's heart is through his stomach, right?
Yeah, and the way to the street is use your feet.
[crowd laughs]
[Pat] I go way back with Redd Foxx.
When I was beginning my career as a stand-up comic,
he was just probably the most naturally funniest human being
I've ever known in my lifetime.
Way down deep inside, we're both exactly the same.
Yeah, deep down.
As we get closer to the surface,
-I turn black and you turn yellow. -[crowd laughs]
[Felicia] So, another great story that I stumbled upon,
uh, was the relationship that he had with Redd Foxx.
Oh, yeah, no, they were very tight friends.
-[Felicia] Yeah. -In fact, uh, Redd Foxx had a little club
called Foxx's on La Cienega, in LA.
-Okay. -And Pat used to get up all the time and, and perform.
[whimsical music]
[Pat] Several years down the line, Gary, I remember seeing him
in the commissary at Paramount, the old commissary.
I walked by, just to say hi, and he says,
"Oh, Pat," he says, "gee, perfect.
I'm doing a pilot and, uh, and I think you'd be wonderful
for a certain scene and, and a part I have in mind."
It was calledWives,
and starring in it was his sister, Penny...
[laughs] and we made the pilot, and, uh, it didn't make it.
However, a few years later,
I get a call out of the blue...
and it's Gary, and he says,
"Pat, we're doing this show calledHappy Days,
and I wanted to tell you, I really want you
for this part of Arnold."
He says, "You don't have to read for the part or nothing.
You just come in and you're perfect for Arnold."
[theme music]
And, and actually, I joined them the third year of their existence.
[Don] Our show was a pretty,
pretty decent success in the first season.
But in the second season, when we were still on camera,
the ratings were going down.
And there was even some question
whether we'd be renewed for-- uh, by ABC.
We were almost kicked off the air.
There were only three networks when Happy Daysstarted.
We were down to 48th place in the ratings.
And Fred Silverman had, uh, come into power at ABC.
And between our director, Jerry Paris,
uh, and Garry Marshall and Fred Silverman,
they all decided to give us one more shot.
[Pat] ABC had set down a template of criteria
for Gary to answer to
for them to pick up the show for the third year.
And the criteria were, number one...
get Fonzie into the house,
that was easy, they build an, an apartment above the garage,
three camera tape, live audience.
And we physically have to see Arnold.
You know, there were waitresses and people that work for him
and they would refer to Arnold,
they would refer to him, but you'd never see him.
That's why you think they go, "We got to,
now, introduce Arnold."
Are we going to stand for that?
-[all] No! -No! Get Arnold out here!
Yeah, we want Arnold.
-Do what? Do what? -We want Arnold.
-What do we want? -We want Arnold.
-What-- -[crowd laughs and claps]
What is it?
[Don] And, from the time he came on,
everybody fell in love with Pat,
he was just-- he was a real sweetheart of a guy.
I was astounded by how funny he could be,
uh, with no words at all.
[Pat] Third episode into the season that they're shooting,
Garry Marshall picks his head over Jerry's shoulder and he says,
"Pick an accent. We're going to, uh,
start taping in 20 minutes."
I had been doing the whole week as I talk to you.
So, naturally, you know,
going back to the old Chinese restaurant days,
one of the fun things I used to do was mimic our cook.
[Asian accent] So, the next thing you know,
the Arnold, he talk like the old Chinese cook,
and he laugh like the old Chinese...[mimics laugh]
[normal accent] And it made the character work, you know, so...
This check, it's too much.
Why are you so cheap? This joint's always packed.
Packed, sure, but no money.
You kids take up space with small soda
and big doo-wops, there's no money in doo-wops!
[Don] And then I remember our director, Jerry Paris,
he was the one who said,
"I think we should turn this
into a three camera show."
We had to go live because in order--
in order to compete because owing the family.
[theme music]
[man] Happy Days is filmed before a live audience.
[theme music continues]
[Don] A lot of people were saying, "Well, you're going to lose
the feeling of the '50s,"
because we, we were able to do the outdoor drive in
with the cars and, you know, y--
like a graffiti kind of feel, you know, a graffiti,
and we were going to lose that if you go
inside with an audience.
But he said, "I really think this cast can do it."
And most of us were stage actors.
So we, we looked forward to it.
And see, Pat was used to working with an audience.
So he, when that audience would be cheering and laughing,
I mean, he would just get hotter and hotter,
and better, and better, and better. And we'v-- we lift off that.
[Pat] Five, six weeks into the shooting process,
and we're doing good. The numbers are climbing and we're going,
you know, through the top, and there comes Jerry again.
"You can't play Arnold."
"I c--[stutters] I can't--
I can't play Arn-- I am Arnold.
I'm the only Arnold that the world has ever seen."
"Well, um, you're Japanese and Arnold is Chinese."
"You guys were the ones that said 'Pick an accent'!"
"Standards and Practices says,
because Arnold is Chinese and you're Japanese,
you can't play him." The actors survival syndrome kicks in
and, and I'm like, "Wait a minute, wait a minute.
Arnold doesn't have a last name."
"So?" "I have-- uh, it's Arnold Takahashi.
Okay, how about that? Just get behind it?" "Why does he talks Chinese?"
I said, "Ah, because, you see, during World War II,
he was in French Indochina.
Uh, he have a Chinese mother...
...who got knocked up by a Japanese soldier in Manchuria somewhere
and never saw him again, and raised her only son to talk English
and this is the way she learned him for how to talk.
And they went, "I buy it."
[laughs] And they walked out--
Oh, boy...[chuckles] This business.
So I got an ad in the mail! There's a guy named
Mitsumo Takahashi giving jiu-jitsu lessons.
-Where, Tokyo? -[crowd laughs]
No, he gives them right here at Arnold's, on Sunday night.
-No kidding. -Yeah!
[Pat] They had written an episode about karate.
And I said, "Wait a minute."
In those days, they didn't do karate.
The most popular Asian martial art form was judo.
And what happens is Ralph Malf and Potsie,
they're going to, you know, learn to protect ourselves
and we're going to go to this judo school.
And it turns out the judo school is at Arnold's, in the restaurant.
Wait a minute, Arnold. The paper said Mitsumo Takahashi is giving the class.
I am Mitsumo Takahashi.
Is this the face of a Arnold?
The joy I got out of it is I choreographed
all the throw scenes.
Hey, Arnold, that was a little quick.
Could you show it to us again?
I don't think I got it. [laughs]
-[gasps] -[both yell]
[sharp thud]
I got it.
[Don] Well, that was a--
a precursor of things to come.
Okay. I'm looking for another loudmouth volunteer.
[crowd laughs]
One of my favorites was
when he was married,
and I got to write the corny song.
♪ A Japanese wedding song from Potsie to you ♪
♪ One set of chopsticks made just for two ♪
[Pat] That episode, for me,
was one of the first, maybe the first time that,
that-- on a national program scale,
that I got to be the centerpiece of something.
And it just gave me great, great courage.
And we were often running and then, uh, became number one.
I got to run now. I got to get back and, uh, rip off my tongue.
-[vocalizes] -[crowd laughs]
Bye!
[Pat] People asked me, "Why did you leaveHappy Days?"
I really didn't leaveHappy Days.
They offered him, it was like, his own show,
as opposed to being just a supporting character.
[Anson] Fred Silverman became head of ABC.
He wanted Pat in the show.
You know, it's-- I guess that's a hard thing to, to, uh, turn down.
I mean, yes, yo-- on one hand,
you're on the number one show.
But you're not the star. So...
He, uh, was a, a father
who had hired, um, an American governess
to watch his two kids
because he, he was a widower.
And, uh, I was his daughter,
and it was just how she was a bungling type of, uh, nanny.
I think she really didn't know anything.
[Pat] My exposure on, uh,
Welcome Back, Kotter, was the test run for--
to see if this kind of a guy would work.
This is your next career day speaker, Mr. Takahashi, uh,
from Bonyari Industries, Tokyo. He's an inventor.
-Oh, nice to meet you. -And, uh, you too.
[Don] Nobody that I know faulted Pat for making that decision.
We all supported him, wanted only the best for him.
He was really, uh, the first Asian
to ever star in a sitcom.
I mean, the guy, in a lot of ways,
was a real pioneer.
He was playing this really eccentric, kind of wacky guy.
And especially as a kid, I felt like I was kind of wacky too,
and it was great seeing this Japanese-American
who is known not as straight-laced and quiet,
but really out there.
And so, that was really exciting.
It was ahead of its time,
but people didn't accept, from what I believe, anyway,
uh, a man in a lead who was Asian,
who had a normal kind of family. They weren't ready for it.
[man] Saturday is the premiere ofMr. T and Tina.
Tina is cool.
I don't care about the body temperature of governess.
No matter how talented you are, you need the right vehicle.
It was the wrong vehicle.
Pat knew it, but he went with it.
[Pat] They paid me for 13 episodes.
We, uh, shot ten, they showed four,
and we were off the air.
[crowd laughs]
[sharp click]
[calm Hawaiian music]
[Pat] I was living in Hawaii. I was down in the dumps again.
The career was on a slide and I'm...
working in Hawaii, taking what work I can find, you know,
nightclub comic work, writing copy for commercials, doing whatever.
Came back to the mainland, re-signed with my then agent,
uh, for another three years and whatever,
and was literally on my way back to Hawaii, um,
because there was nothing else to do here.
There were no parts, no offers that I knew of.
Walking out the door of the agents office and I hear...
[in old man's voice] "Pat Morita, where the heck is Pat Morita?
I got to find--"
[in normal voice] And the secretary, Sarah, says,
[in woman's voice] "He just walked out the door, sir."
[in old man's voice] "Pat, get your butt back in here, you got to read this script.
I think it's perfect for you, right?"
[in normal voice] So I do. I like the part.
[suspenseful music]
[Ralph] There was humor in Robert Kamen's script and,
and Mr. Miyagi, but it was lightly, lightly peppered,
and he was-- you know, they always spoke
about this majestic Toshiro Mifune,
this Akira Kurosawa kind of Japanese sensei
who teaches the boy how to fight.
That now has a, you know, a soft chewy center,
you know what I mean? I think the big question
for Avildsen at the time, if memory serves,
is he doesn't really speak English.
[speaks Japanese]
[Robert] And Toshiro Mifune came in and did a read,
they put him on tape, and he was a samurai,
he was sensei, alright?
Caro Jones, who is the casting director at the time,
said, "What about Pat Morita? I think he-- you know, let's, let's bring him in to read."
Jerry Weintraub, when he heard Pat Morita...
he said, "I'm not hiring Arnold from Happy Days."
[Don] We all know what that's like,
facing that, you get so associated with it
that you get typecast. It's hard to break away.
The producer couldn't get past that and didn't even want to consider it.
"Can't have a Catskill Comic playing Mr. Miyagi."
You know, "He was build as 'The Hip Nip,'
I'm not getting-- this guy is, you know--"
And I was more, like-- I'm listening, I'm thinking of...
[mimics laugh] the Arnold from Happy Days.
I said, "Give me a chance to train him.
You pick a scene that you like and have him do it."
And we did th-- the one scene that he did with,
uh, Martin Kove,
where he put Martin Kove on his knees
and he was just, uh, "Mercy is for the weak.
We don't train to be merciful here."
And then he starts to make this move in Martin Kove,
and he goes, "Honk!" And pulls and tweaks his nose.
So we, uh, we used his skill as a comedian
to do some of those parts.
[Pat] They're gathered in a pre-production meeting
a few days later and...
and during the process, John reaches over
and clicks on the monitor.
And in mid-sentence, Jerry goes, "Wait a minute, who's that?
That's a Miyagi. Who the hell is that actor?"
And John says, "That's the Pat Morita you refused to read for this part."
The rest is history.
They bring me in five times.
They want to see if I can do it again.
[man] Mr. Miyagi, wha-- what, what belt do you have?
Oh! [chuckles] Canvas. You like?
Yeah, it's very nice.
Uh, J.C. Penney, 3,98.
[chuckles]
[Pat] Then they bring Ralphie in.
Fly him in from New York, they want to see if there's chemistry.
We do it, they did make me-- make us do it again,
this time in costume, in front of the studio heads.
The fifth time they bring me in, we are on a cold, blank,
outline stage, no sets, nothing, but in costume,
uh, but they shoot it.
Not everything is as it seems.
Bullshit, man!
[Pat] And, to Jerry's credit, he's-- gets on the horn
and says, "Pat, I almost made the worst mistake of my life.
I just want to be the first to congratulate you.
You got the part of Miyagi."
What Pat Morita had from the get-go
is he had all the beats, all the dramatic beats.
He had-- he was a comic, so he knew where the humor was.
[Robert] He really got to a place at-- where he was playing a character
that he knew, that it wasn't something he made up.
When I finally read the script, by page three,
-I know this guy. -Yeah.
I, I, I had his walk.
I had his sound, I had his voice level,
I had his pattern of speech.
[Ralph] And had felt
such a responsibility to that character
that there's no one on the planet that,
that could've played that role at the level that he did.
When you watch him play Mr. Miyagi,
he inhabits that character soul,
completely forget it's Pat Morita.
He became wise and kind
and open and big-hearted, and at the same time,
you knew he was bearing some sort of pain.
Fighting always last answer to problem.
[Robert] And that's what made the movie, his relationship with Daniel,
it wasn't my story, I mean, you know, that story's been told a hundred times.
It was his relationship with, with Ralph,
that perfect chemistry with these two people that,
that really made that movie magic.
What's the matter? You're some kind of girl or something?
Punch, drive up punch!
Not just arm, whole body!
[Ralph] I knew very little of karate before the film started.
I think when I was, you know, maybe ten years old,
I took, like, four lessons at the dojo down the street,
until I realized, "Wow, that hurts. Let me try piano."
[chuckles]
And Ralph had no interest in learning,
which was perfect because he was not supposed
to know how to do anything.
[man] Hi Pat. Uh, I wanted to ask you
if you were involved in any martial arts in real life.
In terms of martial arts,
the only martial arts I was involved in
was, uh, Garry Marshall, um, Penny Marshall
and maybe Marshall Field's a little bit. Uh, no.
So I knew very little.
And Pat knew very little, less than that.
Um, uh, the two of us together, it's the magic of movies.
Hey, look eye. Always look eye.
[William] Pat Johnson was a ninth degree black belt,
uh, world champion fighter on the US Karate team.
He was Chuck Norris' guy.
They were partners back in the day,
and, um, he was, uh,
he's the heart and soul of the karate in the film.
When I trained Pat Morita,
I got he and Ralph together and I trained them
and I pushed them really hard,
and I let them bitch and moan to-- together,
in, "Oh, I'm so exhausted,"
just so they would dev-- develop a relationship.
[Robert] And they had that one scene where they're learning together,
and I guess it was Karate Kid III.
And so I tried to get them to, "Just scoop sand...
bring it down, scoop sand,
-bring it down." They couldn't get it. -[laughter]
Okay, did he do all his own stunts on Karate Kid?
The studio always said, "If you're ever asked if you're doing your own stunts..."
-Yeah. -...they wanted him to lie and say,
-"Yeah, I'm doing my own stunts." -Oh!
But in actuality, it was a karate master,
-Fumio Demura, that did all... -[Felicia] Really?
...doubled for him in all The Karate Kidmovies.
-[Annette] Oh, interesting. -Yeah.
It's harder for general people
that d-- doesn't know anything about karate.
I was, uh, Pat Morita's stunt double,
and my job is, I had to make him look good.
[grunting]
[moaning]
[sharp thuds]
[upbeat music]
[sharp yells]
The Karate Kidmovie resonated with so many people...
because it actually touched on something...
so many years ago, that today is in the forefront,
but it wasn't before, which is bullies.
I think every person can relate to it
because we all have had that feeling of not fitting in,
of, of perhaps wanting to be part of a larger group,
but you're not admitted because you're not smart enough,
or funny enough, or strong enough.
It was really great to see a film
where the kid who was being bullied
came out on top, that really resonated with me.
Or they identified with the film
because they were a fish out of water situation,
or because they had a romance that didn't work out, you know.
And most of the time in the Asian community,
it is only a one-way monologue
that the parents talk to the kids, talk at the kids,
it's never a conversation.
And that's why I see, now,
looking back at, um, The Karate Kid,
it's such a beautiful story because it's a story about two, uh, people
who've lost something important in life,
and finding renewed friendship and believe in hope.
In an era where everything was, you know,
He-Man and, you know,
Stallone, Schwarzenegger model,
you know, big, tough, strong guys beating up people,
or shooting people, or killing people,
especially people of color, you know.
And then there was Mr. Miyagi,
who had wisdom and who could, you know, catch a fly. [laughs]
You know, it-- it just let-- it reminded you
that it's not all on the outside,
that there's something deep within that you can develop
that can be the great equalizer.
And he was, uh, everybody's fantasy
of what they would want,
a father who was kind and gentle,
and would mentor,
and could beat the living crap out of everybody.
[shouting and grunting]
-[sharp shattering] -[moaning]
[panting]
[vocalizing]
And he, he used to call me "BZ,"
and I used to call him "Uncle Pat," he kind of became all our uncle,
he was like the warm, funny uncle on the set, you know.
And then he turned into Miyagi and disappeared.
But for the most part, he was the funny,
warm Pat, and he'd go, "BZ, BZ!"
And I'm-- you know, I'm in my skeleton outfits, it's two in the morning, you know,
and he pulls me aside and he goes, "Listen, man, listen, man."
He goes, "When, uh, when you're doing rehearsals, brother,"
he goes, "you got to give 110%,
got to give 110%."
He goes, "That way, when the cameras are rolling,
it's bread and butter, baby.
It's bread and butter."
I was a young actor, I was macho.
I wasn't, like, into my emotions,
and crying scenes were maybe
the most challenging thing for me.
And, uh, I remember Pat just saying, "Don't blink."
I'm like, "What?"
He said, "Just don't blink,
your eyes will start to water."
[laughs]
Pat, to me,
he was sort of like Mr. Miyagi.
He was this kind of magical guy.
I remember one time he was at the show and I had an injury.
I had-- I had a tear in my tendon.
And he reaches over and he grabs my arm,
and he just squeezes it.
And he's like, "Yeah, you know,
you-- you should do like this every now and then."
And he's-- and he just squeezes my arm, and I'm--
And I go, "Pat, that's kind of hurting." And he goes, "Yeah, yeah,
but wait, it'll feel better when I'm done."
I was going to go to jail for selling bongs.
And this is in '03.
And so, I was feeling really, really low,
because my family, uh, my daughters,
you know, they're all sad.
But when you go to jail,
you really find out who your real friends are.
And only one guy called me...
and gave me a, a heads up
and give me a, a talk.
And that was Pat Morita.
He does a mean barnacle.
I let him paint some barnacles on, uh,
the Whaling Wall mural that I did in, uh, Waikiki, and,
and at each wall,
you know, I have a-- a person of significance,
uh, dedicated, you know, that particular mural.
And for Hawaii,
it had to be Pat Morita.
Not only was Pat my neighbor in Tarzana,
then down the street, little more into the hills,
Pat lived down there.
Well, there's a big rain that year, huge, big rain.
Mud came down, his whole house--
the mud went right through his house,
filled up the whole house with mud.
Uh, being a neighbor, so we're all down there trying to help him.
In other words, another tragic thing
happens to this sweetheart.
I had to really get pumped up for some of that.
Pat is great, you know, to work with.
He'd say, he says, "I want you to hate me with all your guts.
You want to rip my lung out.
You know, you want to tear my heart out and eat it."
That's what he used to say.
Kind of felt like he was the father that I never had,
and the son that he never had,
and, uh, I always said I was his, his Ralph Macchio.
"I'm the one that cleans the garage,
and, and waxes his cars," and, you know,
he always had me wash the cars and stuff like that.
But one of my favorite moments in the film,
it's when I turn to him after he gives me the car for my birthday
and I say, "You're the best friend I ever had."
And it's such a big thing, it's, you know,
a son getting his first car from his father.
And here's a boy who really has nothing and now he has,
especially here in California, has some sense of identity
and empowerment
and independence.
And it's this really cool car.
I could get emotional about it like right now
just based on the fact of being a parent and,
and how much that meant,
and what kind of kid would say that.
In that scene, is how much
that father figure meant to this boy at the time.
And his reaction was equally as poignant with,
"You pretty okay too."
For me, the scene when Daniel has been working,
doing what he deems to be all these menial jobs
around Mr. Miyagi's home,
uh, waxing the cars, painting the fence,
uh, you know, sanding the floor.
And he's had it.
And in one instant,
Mr. Miyagi asks him to show him,
you know, paint the fence, you know, wax the floor,
you know, and, and the kid realizes, he has the epiphany
that he's been taught karate all along.
Show me "sand the floor."
-[yells] -[sharp thud]
[continues to yell]
Yes.
[William] The place went crazy the first time we saw that in Westwood at a screening.
You know, that moment. Because you don't know, the first time,
you don't see The Karate Kid, you don't know what's coming.
So, why is he painting? Why is he waxing?
When that epiphany happens for the first time,
it just, like, sends chills, you know,
and it just sets up the ending so great.
Initially, there was discussion of cutting
the drunk scene from the movie.
[Robert] Where, where Mr. Miyagi is drunk,
talking about his wife and--
I lobbied very hard for that scene
because I felt that was the emotional heart of the picture
and it, it, um, it humanized Mr. Miyagi for Daniel.
I think you got an idea that this was a fully fleshed character,
and it presented to us a side of history
that the Japanese had, um, persevered and,
and fought for, and, and shown that they had such honor
and integrity in America.
[Ralph] It's saying,
this scene just stops the story.
You are driving forward, you have the protagonist,
the antagonist, the mentor, the student,
the drama, the setup,
the leading to the climax, the tournament,
the clock is ticking, it's going to strike midnight.
And then we stop.
And we talk about some guy
and his World War II connection
for five, seven minutes or whatever it is.
[paper softly rustling]
[Guy] That scene is about the fact
that we faced prejudice, we suffered.
And it's like, what a lot of Japanese-Americans went through,
we don't talk about it.
We persevered, we went on with our lives.
But for this guy to fight...
for our country in Germany against the Nazis,
and back home in prison,
his wife, their son die because no doctor came to help.
I mean, that was just an amazing scene, you know.
[slurred speech] Regret to inform...
wife has...
[mumbling]
[grunting loudly]
[cries]
[William] Without that scene, I don't think you know
who Miyagi is in a-- in a way that--
I-- I think so much of the soul of the film
is in that one moment.
It's not easy to play drunk either.
Uh, most actors go overboard
and ham it up and, you know, act really sloppy.
I remember his performance seem to be believably drunk
and a little bit scary.
And arguably, Pat Morita would be the first one
to call that his Academy Award nomination scene.
Because it's the vulnerability and the drama that speaks to Academy members,
and there were so many moments there
where it wasn't about the karate.
See, any time... you do any project
that touches you in the heart,
touches the viewer in the heart,
that's the kind of performance that wraps the, the Awards.
[man] Well, The Karate Kid has a couple of nice performances in it,
-marginal thumbs up for me. -It gets a big thumbs up for me,
and especially because of Pat Morita, that Japanese-American janitor
who's going to teach him all the moves. Pat Morita, I think,
a possible for an Oscar nomination, if the movie does it
-at the Box Office. -No way.
Okay. I'll see you in a couple of months.
I was surprised he was nominated.
Not because the performance didn't deserve it.
I just couldn't believe I was in a movie
with someone who got an Academy Award nomination.
Winning the nomination is
probably as close as you can get to the ultimate achievement.
[Robert] I was very happy for him. He had spent a whole life being--
trying to be something that not very many Japanese-Americans were,
which is an actor
and a comedian and a stand-up.
People in the community were very proud of him.
Um, I think it was the first time they,
they said that, you know, somebody was actual--
uh, of Asian ancestry was actually recognized.
The best performance by an actor in a supporting role,
Pat Morita in The Karate Kid.
[crowd clapping]
[Ralph] If I were to turn back time,
I would have been more involved.
I would like to have had the experience
of being at the Oscars, uh, for him.
And that's, that's the one, that's the one I, I missed.
[woman] What's your level of excitement like now?
Right now it's, on a scale of ten,
about 17. And outside of that, I'm very calm.
[Robert] And this was a big deal,
The Karate Kid became an iconic movie.
Uh, and it's played for three generations now.
And also represented the Japanese culture, you know,
in a way that was Americanized.
It brought karate and the whole martial arts
into the United States, it was the first film that did that.
And dojos benefited from it, you know,
when that-- after that movie came out,
in a moment, went up for a lot of people.
Even today that's going on. I talked to karate schools
and there's a thousand different schools represented
with all the different senseis,
and every one of them were a kid
that was doing a crane kick
when they were 12, you know.
[all shouting]
My manager,
my personal manager at the time,
said, "You know, it's great that you're doing this movie,
but you know there's no audience for it."
[Martin] Nobody had an idea. Nobody liked the title.
It was a Bruce Lee title,
you know, it was like, we all had the same feelings,
but nobody versed it.
You know, nobody was-- talked about it.
"Hey, Jerry, what kind of title is this?"
You know, I mean, nobody did that.
We felt we were making something good,
even, I mean, John Avildsen was one of the first
to always say that, "I didn't have a clue."
[Martin] I've never been on a set
where everything was just so right...
by accident.
It just, like, God was watching over you,
"Bam! Bam!"
[Ralph] Did he believe 30 years later,
or did I, or did Pat Morita,
or anyone believe that people--
that this film would be relevant today?
Um, that's a-- that's a gazillion to one.
It changed all our lives. It changed my life,
it changed Pat's life. Changed everybody's life.
Pat Morita handmade us these photo albums
at-- when we wrapped, and he gave them to us, uh,
I think maybe just prior to wrapping,
like, around the Christmas time, because if you read this,
he wrote it out, it says, "Happy holidays,
you and family for whole life.
Miyagi, 1983."
And then, of course, he put some photos of himself,
signed autographs, and he and Ralph with the bonsai trees,
and then he left, you know, pretty much the rest of it opened for us to fill in
with our own newspaper articles and,
and our photos about...
You know, even just regular snapshots of the trailers
and, and just stuff, memorabilia from The Karate Kid,
and just us hanging out and,
and, uh, obviously I'll cherish this forever.
That's the Medal of Honor.
The highest honor awarded by the US military.
[Ralph] We are, um, in production on the Cobra Kairight now.
It's important to me, from day one,
that the essence and spirit of Miyagi lives
through Daniel LaRusso, even 30 years later.
And without it, not a complete character or complete story.
We do our best in honoring the legacy
of which this new series has been born from.
And you can't have that without,
uh, Mr. Miyagi's infusion into Daniel's life
and how he leads his life.
I really wish you could be here right now.
[light somber music]
[Felicia] So, did he have any identity issues
with being Japanese-American and having to play these roles,
these Japanese roles and having the accent when he was very American?
[Evelyn] Oh, God. Yes.
-You know, it's funny, he spoke very little Japanese. -It's crazy.
[Evelyn] I didn't even know that after we got married.
The family was all together and they were all talking Japanese and everything,
and he was in the corner, like, really quiet, and I said,
"Honey, wow, why don't you join in?"
-He goes, "Because I don't know what the hell they're saying." -[laughs]
-What? -[Annette] Wow! That's fascinating.
So, I-- I'm a polite, friendly kind of a guy.
I go up to this Japanese guy, and I know that, uh,
"ohio" meant "good morning" in Jap--
So I go up to this Japanese guy and said, "Ohio."
He looked at me and said, "Cleveland."
[crowd laughs]
[Pat] There's a, a-- what I call a pigeonholing status
that goes on within the casting side of the business.
My very, very firs-- first movie wasThoroughly Modern Millie.
There is me and Jack Soo playing Chinese laundrymen with,
with the queue, you know, the pigtail and...
If you've watch that scene where they both appear, um,
it's just very caricatured and,
you know, emasculating, they look ridiculous and--
maybe they could say, "Well, it's comedy,
uh, they're supposed to be." But, you know,
it just played on a lot of the old racist tropes
that existed at that time and--
[James] Louise Rainer, I believe her name was,
played the main role
as an Asian lady.
And she would put on the makeup, you know,
and, uh, so forth. And the leading man
was another prominent White actor.
Did the whole role with these makeup and the...
[mimics speech]
You know, it was sickening to see,
it turned my stomach to see people do those roles.
[light mysterious music]
[loudly laughing]
This is the day!
You know, guys like Mickey Rooney would act
like a Japanese guy, like he did in, uh,
in Ti-- Breakfast at Tiffany's, you know.
They'd always have actors, they didn't care
what nationality they were, but they never hired,
uh, you know, Asians.
And he's got the coke bottle glasses,
and he's got the fake buck teeth and he's talking...
[mimics Japanese yelling]
He's ranting, and raving, and--
[shouting with Asian accent] But that was two weeks ago!
You cannot go under and keep ringing my bell!
[Guy] That came to symbolize,
"This is what you think we're like."
Now if you saw this part, you--
you might say, "Geez!"
[chuckles]
Th-- the volume was up a little high
on some of the mannerisms.
But remember, this is...
the same thing. In 1960,
that's what... an actor might do.
The big producers, the Samuel Goldmans and, uh,
you know, the-- the big, uh, 20th Century Fox and whatnot,
were throwing us little tidbit,
and the people were satisfied,
but I wasn't satisfied
because I wasn't that kind of a person.
And even the great Marlon Brando,
uh, doing the yellow face,
uh, playing this character named Sakini.
[in Asian accent] Pleased to introduce myself.
Sakini by name, interpreter by profession.
John Wayne played Genghis Khan.
"And you still talk like this.
We're going to go and take over the westerners,
pilgrim."
I feel this tartar woman is for me.
My blood says, "Take her!"
[George] That was totally acceptable at the time.
But here we are in the present day,
and you still have movies like Ghost in the Shell
and Doctor Strange,
in which these characters which should be Asian are not.
I think they need to change the belief that
Asian-Americans or Asian Pacific, uh, actors
in leading roles are not, uh, bankable.
That is a myth.
[intense dramatic music]
-[sharp thuds] -[grunts]
[gunshots]
-[woman] Fine banana. -No, no, no.
That-- those are for your feet.
-[sharp thuds] -[sharp yells]
Audience has actually embraced
a Mr. Miyagi and Pat Morita.
They embrace a Bruce Lee,
when you get the real thing.
[Pat] And history will,
in our industry, will always, uh, if it's honest with itself,
will always have to talk about these facets,
but the pigeonholing process still goes on.
Everybody wants me to do some variation of a sensei and...
[mimicking Asian accent] Chan, you have offended my family.
[crowd laughs]
Now I must avenge my brother's death.
[crowd laughs]
Having fun?
It's kind of funny to me that Hollywood is so kind of narrow,
narrow sided sometimes to not see past the charac--
when you play a character so well that you remember forever and go,
"Ah, that's what he does." It's the silliest thing,
like, Pat had so many colors.
He could play any character.
He could do any dialect, almost, you know,
he could've played anything.
He, he was always slot into a gimmick.
Even Karate Kid, you have to admit that was a,
a gimmick role of a so-called karate master, you know.
You're lucky to have a character tha--
that people remember forever
because you did a good job, you know,
so I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing to be typecast.
One, it's not bad because you're working.
Two, it's bad because people think that's all you can do.
And you have to fight as hard as you possibly can
in order not to be completely pigeonholed.
So, what were some of the other films that he was proud of?
You know, it's funny, a lot of people don't know this,
but he was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Emmy...
-[Felicia] Wow. -...for Amos,the TV movie.
[Pat] I think every actor wishes
in their lifetime they could work with a superstar.
Little did I ever know
that I would work with a fellow named Kirk Douglas.
I mean, we're talking of a legend here.
It was just one of the thrills of my life and, uh,
as it turned out, I got an Emmy nomination
for the Best Supporting that year.
And aside from being a wonderful,
wonderful performer,
Pat Morita is a great human being,
and I love him and I look forward to working with him again.
Didn't he start another TV series in the late '80s?
Yes. In '87, I believe he played
an unconventional Japanese-American, Lieutenant Ohara.
I know how the human mind works.
How the criminal will react.
This is my gift.
[voiceover] Pat Morita is Ohara.
The name is Ohara.
[high-pitched bell]
[voiceover] Premiering Saturday.
And did he ever go back to visit the internment camps?
Yeah, actually, he did a film in '76,
I believe, Farewell to Manzanar...
-Oh. -...where he played a photographer
that was, uh, taking pictures of everything
-that went on in the camps. -[Felicia] Wow.
[Pat] It was a fairly spooky experience
because they shot on location
up in Tule Lake,
which is where my family was.
Spooky in the sense that it still rings in my ears,
I remember leaving and saying,
"Thank God, boy, I'll never have to come back to here again."
And, uh, 40 years later, 30 years later, I forget,
there I am on another bus,
[chuckles] going back to this place.
Under much better circumstances, of course, but--
There was Castle Rock Mountain and Abalone Hill,
and still some graveyard places and,
and, and patches of where barracks used to be.
[Evelyn] And we also visited
one of the internment camps where he was at,
-uh, Gila River in Arizona. -[Annette] Oh.
How was that for him?
Very, very hard for him.
It was, it was hard. It was rough.
And we're walking the grounds, you know, you could still see
remains of some of the China's, some of the dishes.
-Oh, my God! -That people were using.
All broken, you know, and, um...
and, uh, he just broke down.
He broke down, you know, it was--
um...
I'm sorry.
[Felicia] It's okay.
[exhales]
He said, "You know, a day didn't go by that,
uh, you didn't hear about a suicide...
-[Felicia and Annette] Oh. -...or stillborn,
or somebody dying from, uh,
an illness they couldn't treat or malnutrition."
-[Felicia] Mm-hmm. -I mean, the conditions were just horrible,
they were just horrendous.
[dramatic Asian themed music]
[Karen] After only spending two years here
and working for him for close to 13 years...
it's about the time during the riots, I think,
Pat gave me a call and said, "Get me out of here."
And I figured he would be away.
That's where he wanted to go.
And he said, "I'm out of money and I want to move."
And I was broken-hearted.
But, going to have to leave this spot, so...
What happened was the divorce ate up all of his money.
The alimony payments...
at the beginning, it was $30,000 a month.
If I'm correct. And then it went to $20,000, and...
that's where all his money went,
to the divorce.
So...
[gentle piano music]
[water softly lapping]
[Pat] I think-- I think the best things in life begin from...
sometimes, the worst things in life.
But not without effort.
Not without hopes and dreams.
[inspirational music]
[Annette] So, when did you guys get married?
-We got married in 1994... -[Annette] Wow.
...in Vegas, at the old Elvis Presley mansion.
-[Annette] Oh, my gosh! -And then we had a big wedding reception
-in Hawaii for-- it was a lot of friends. -[Felicia] Oh, nice.
-[Felicia and Annette] Nice. -He wanted this big, lavish wedding.
-[Evelyn laughs] -[Annette] How fun!
[Felicia] Nice!
-[Pat] On this day... -[Evelyn] On this day...
-...I marry my best friend... -...I marry my best friend...
-...the one I love... -...the one I love...
-...the one I live for... -...the one I live for...
-...the one I dream of... -...the one I dream of...
-...the one I laugh with... -...the one I laugh with...
-...from this day forward...
[both together] ...until the end of time.
[Felicia] Did you maintain your career
during that time that you were married to him
-or did you dedicate yourself to just-- -[Evelyn] No,
-I pretty much gave it up. -[Felicia and Annette] Mm.
He, he didn't want me to work.
-Oh. -Oh, wow.
He never said it,
-but I kind of knew it. -[Felicia] Um. Yeah.
[light suspenseful music]
[Evelyn] Oh, my God.
Oh, my God!
Oh, my God, I can't believe it's been so long
since I've seen the star!
Oh, it's just bringing back a flood of memories.
This whole area was just flooded with people,
there had to be about 300 people.
They were blocking traffic.
Jerry Weintraub was here,
he kind of put the thing together
because they were promoting the, um...
uh, The Next Karate Kid, with Hilary Swank.
And Hilary Swank came out and she spoke,
and I got up and spoke, and my whole family flew out.
Uh, oh, my God, this brings back so many memories, it's so beautiful.
And her legs are prettier than Ralph's.
[crowd laughs and claps]
Well, I just want to say, congratulations, Pat,
this was very well deserved,
I feel very lucky to have worked with Pat,
and very honored to know him.
Of all the people who've helped me drink longer
and be where I am today,
my new bride, Mrs. Evie Morita.
[crowd clapping and cheering]
That was great.
It's hard to get that.
It's hard, you know, you pay money for it. He didn't pay for it.
I mean, he didn't give the money,
but it...
it was-- it was a great day, I mean...
that movie was so important to so many people.
I got a call from Jerry Weintraub saying,
"Pat, I think we're going to do another one."
I went, "Why?"
-[laughs] -[man] How?
Jerry Weintraub, who produced all of them...
I think he just decided that it had run its course
with the original cast.
I don't know where he came up with the idea,
but he says, "We're going to do one with a girl."
And I went, "Okay."
[chuckles]
[Hilary] Wax on, wax off.
-Wax on-- -Very good, Judy san.
[Martin] You know, it just--
you couldn't bring a girl in there.
It just-- and Hilary Swank is a good actress, but it--
It's k-- you know, it's a different game.
[Robert] I didn't want to do Karate Kid III,
let alone Karate Kid IV.
I wanted to take Mr. Miyagi and a girl
back to China in the 16th century,
the original Mr. Miyagi,
who went to China and came back with karate.
And Columbia wouldn't do it.
And then, they were going to do a fourth one,
and I said, "I'm out.
I will never do. I'm over Karate Kid.
I will never do another one. If you--
if you do my flying people movie,
I'll come back. If you don't do my flying people movie,
I will not come back."
And they didn't do my flying people movie.
So I didn't.
And so we brought in three girls,
tested them.
Uh, two of them were not very good actresses.
Hilary was a terrific actress.
I never really felt she was...
perfect for the role.
We got down to the point
to where Jerry said, "You're right.
The other two can't act. Let's go with Hilary."
I said, "Jerry, I'm not sure we found a girl yet.
I'm not totally convinced.
Maybe we should keep looking." He said, "Tell you what,
we'll flip a coin.
If you win, we keep looking. If I win, she gets it."
I said, "Okay." So he flipped a coin.
I won. He looked at me and said, "Two out of three."
So...
[woman] A newcomer, Hilary Swank,
kicks into Ralph Macchio's old territory
asThe Next Karate Kid ,
who is once again under Pat Morita's guidance.
[Christopher] He'd come up to me at the end of every day when we were done.
He says, "Is that it for me?"
I say, "Yep." He says, "That's a wrap for the Jap."
And walk off.
He poked a lot of fun at himself.
People enjoy watching people pick on themselves.
[Ciro] When everybody used to say,
"Wax on, wax off," he always remembered to say,
"No, now I'm a little old for that,
wax on, wax off, wax on, whack off."
[Martin] He loved to poke fun at Jerry Weintraub.
[mimicking Pat] You always do the ou-- you know, this--
He went out of his way to make you laugh.
He went out of his way to make you comfortable.
And never seemed to take himself too seriously.
But then you can catch him at times, and you look over and...
and you could see that, you know,
he was lost in thought.
I think Pat was a complicated guy.
He would try to get people to laugh...
and, uh, you know, be a comic.
[Pat] Comedian? I don't know,
do you remember the old days?
We were the bad guys.
Fire one!
-[sharp thud] -[people laugh]
But I think underneath, there was a lot of complication,
a lot of complicated feelings.
Came out when he drank.
Pat had a drinking problem.
[somber music]
And he drank too much,
and his liver reacted. He had to go in.
[Pat] You're all so short in talent.
[people laughing]
Alright, I'll do this the hard way,
you want to see an Eskimo pee?
[people laughing]
Did that go over their heads too?
[people laughing]
One day, he wasn't feeling good,
and, um, he had to go to the hospital.
He was there for about a week.
They had to shoot around him.
It left him really weak, you know,
he couldn't do much action.
He could do a lot of arm movements
and st-- in the fight scenes,
but, you know, Fumio Demura,
God bless him,
he had to cover for him.
Time put your lights out.
[tense music]
[blows sharply]
-[sharp thud] -[groans]
[Evelyn] Okay, you have to understand, he was drinking
-since the age of 12. -[Felicia and Annette] Wow.
Uh, his father was an alcoholic,
his grandfather was an alcoholic,
as a matter of fact, his grandfather
was making bootleg sake...
-[Annette] Oh, my gosh! -...in the internment camp
and keeping everybody wasted.
-[laughs] -[Felicia] Oh, wow.
And, of course, the children, you know,
-they had nothing better to do. -[Felicia] Well, yeah.
[Karen] He drank every day.
He-- every day.
He put it in his coffee, vodka.
Pat was a...
a unique drunk, he used to call himself.
He said, "I can be drunk every day
and nobody will ever know it."
And apparently he was.
[Karen] They always said, "What does Mr. Morita want in his trailer?"
And I'd say, "Nothing, water."
And then, he'd get somebody to go
buy him some vodka or whatever.
So, basically, I would go out there
and make sure he didn't drink too much, keep talking to him.
I never had to go over his lines.
He knew his lines perfectly.
[Christopher] He could always hit his spot,
he'd doe-- in the physical stuff.
And I'm sure he'd been drinking.
Never smelled it on him. He'd do a lot of cover up,
you never saw him drink.
But he confided in me, he said,
"Chris, I'm drunk almost every day."
[tense music]
I'd see him, you know, in the lobby, drinking.
He would invite me, but I don't drink that,
you know, except for the screen, you know, for a role.
Uh, so, I was wondering if he was hiding a past or...
You know, sometimes we like to get away from the real world.
He was an abandoned child. He had a lot of abandonment issues...
-[Annette] Oh. -...because he was an unwanted child.
-[Felicia and Annette] Oh. -The mother he thought raised him
-was really his aunt. -[Felicia] Oh, wow.
[Evelyn] It was his aunt's sister
that was really his biological mother.
-[Felicia and Annette] Mm. -And...
how convenient was it
-that he happened to get sick at the age of two. -[Felicia and Annette] Mm.
-[Evelyn] Now, they just sent him away. -Mm-hmm.
[Evelyn] So it's like, "Let's get rid of the problem."
-So he had to deal with a lot of that. -[Felicia] Yeah.
He was telling me, "You have to keep with this image...
as an actor, you have to keep this image
when you talk to people."
You have-- And it is hard to do,
and then the drinking... kind of hid that.
[melancholic music]
I, I think he always seemed so...
sure of himself in this and that,
but I was thinking, maybe deep down inside,
he had his demons and he wasn't so sure of himself, you know.
Whenever I would go down to see him,
and I would be there...
it was, it was never just socializing.
Always people there drinking and,
uh, and I couldn't handle that,
I just always thought,
"I just want to be-- have a quiet night with him."
When he drank, he woke up on his floor,
he was not a smile and happy face man.
He was, he was mean.
[chuckles]
He started to get smaller parts
because there weren't a lot of big parts available
for an aging Asian actor.
Secondly, he needed the money, you know,
he needed to keep working.
So he would take little cameo parts
just to stay busy.
It was a movie that we did,
I can't remember the title.
It was a funny little movie.
-You know-- -[man] China Girl or Rise China?
Yeah. Oh, yeah. That-- oh.
God, it was pretty bad.
I mean, I-- I, I remember that, whoa!
[Captain Ron] These women are hookers.
Don't you fall in love with any hookers.
[in accent] "Flied lice."
It's fried rice, you plick!
[William] We were talking about Karate Kidand,
you know, doing another one, and he said,
"Man, I always wanted to do one more,
one more, where, you know,
I'm thinking, you know, Johnny is like a doctor,
and Miyagi gets sick,
and, uh, you know, and Daniel--"
I forgot what he said Daniel was doing because I didn't play Daniel,
so I didn't key in on it. No. [chuckles]
But he says, "But I want at the-- at the end for Miyagi to die
and to have a proper Okinawan burial for him."
You know, and so he said, "I want to-- I'm not ready, I'm not done with Miyagi yet.
Like, I-- I want to send him off to pasture and,
and with respect and hon-- and full honors, you know."
He came to me with an idea about doing Mr. Miyagi's story.
And, um...
[light melancholic music]
...you know, it was kind of like...
a little bit of a desperation thing,
uh, he didn't quite know where to put himself after a while.
When the drinking started to get really bad,
uh, it was starting to show in his performance.
The few jobs that he got,
he was showing up late.
He, he, he clearly looked intoxicated.
Uh, he was difficult.
And Arnie, his, his manager, Arnold Soloway,
he said, "Pat, you're unemployable."
[tense music]
When his father died, it was, it was, um, it really affected him.
-He was hit by a pick-up truck and the... -[Annette] Oh, my God.
the guy that was driving didn't even know.
-He was dragging him for blocks and blocks and blocks. -[Annette] Oh, my God.
I think his pant leg or something got caught in the wheel.
He suffered a long, long, slow death.
So, he had all these demons he had to deal with...
-[Felicia] Mm-hmm. -...so it's no wonder he drank...
-[Felicia] Yeah. Yeah. -...all his life.
-He never recovered from those wounds. -[Annette] Wow.
-[Felicia] Yeah. -[Evelyn] You know.
[Felicia] Then how does someone,
um, that has such a broken experience find comedy?
Tha-- that's their way of dealing with it,
-you know, through humor. -[Annette] Right.
[Evelyn] I mean, look at Richard Pryor,
Lenny Bruce,
-uh, Robin Williams. -[Annette] Yeah.
-[Felicia] Mm-hmm. -[Evelyn] If you look into their past,
you'll see that there's a history there of depression,
-or, you know, some issues. -[Felicia] Yeah.
I think his reputation started to, uh,
you know, get known about the drinking and--
and at one-- and some point, he knew about it,
he was well aware of it,
but I think, you know, the illness
kind of just took over.
The real topper was-- Happy Dayswas having--
I believe it was the 30th anniversary,
and Henry Winkler invited us
to participate in that.
And it was being shot in Pepperdine University, in Malibu.
So it was a two-day affair.
And we stayed at the Miramar Hotel, in Santa Monica.
Uh, we had, like, an eight o'clock call
where we had to be, uh, on set.
I was up early, ready as usual.
Pat still passed out on the bed.
And I woke him up and I said, "Honey, come on.
You got to get ready, you know,
the car is going to be here any minute.
We have an eight o'clock pick up."
"Tell him I overslept and I'll take a cab."
And Henry Winkler greeted me when we got there,
and he says, "Where is Pat?"
"He overslept, and he's going to take a cab and, you know."
An hour goes by, and he goes...
"Why isn't Pat here?" You know.
So he asked the driver,
"Go back and get him."
Now the driver comes back and he says,
"I still can't find him.
I've looked everywhere and I've asked."
So I said, "Let me go back with you."
And, you know, we wen-- we went to all the bars,
little local bars around there. We couldn't find him.
Finally, I-- I said, I thought,
"Well, maybe he's up-- he went back upstairs,
and he went back to bed or something,
or he's still in bed."
And, um, when we went back to the hotel...
Oh, my God, it was so...
[deeply inhales]
He was slumped over on the front steps,
dead drunk.
He looked like a homeless person.
[sighs]
[tense music]
I said to the driver, "Let's get him in the car."
And so, we did and, uh, took him back.
And the whole time he was passed out in the backseat.
And then we got there, Henry Winkler came to the car and...
he said, "Come on, Pat," he says,
"I'm going to put you in a room."
He never judged him, wasn't pissed at him, nothing,
you know, he'd-- I love Henry for that.
And he had me work with him with the lines
because he had a little skit, it was a disaster.
It was so-- this little skit,
and he couldn't-- he couldn't get one... line out.
And he was acting silly and falling down and--
oh, my God, it was just a mockery.
Henry said, "You know," he whispered to me and he says,
"Well, we're not going to be able to use any of this, so--
it's a shame, but go home,
get some rest because tomorrow we have a panel."
This is one of the families in my lifetime
that I treasure very, very much.
The cast of Happy Days, ladies and gentlemen.
-[crowd cheering and clapping] -Hey!
[Evelyn] They have all those chairs lined up with everybody's name,
and Pat notices, there's not a chair for him with his name.
And then an AD came in, and he asked him,
and the AD said, "Really?
After what you did yesterday?
You expect to be on the panel?"
[chuckles]
And Pat looked at him, like,
"How dare you speak to me like that?"
And I said, "He's right.
He's absolutely right, and I'm surprised
that you're surprised."
That was when it really, really hit home,
and he realized, "I've got a big problem."
[light tense music]
I've always known that
-alcoholism was a disease... -[Felicia] Mm-hmm.
-[Annette] Yes. -...and I never stopped loving him.
You don't stop loving someone
-if they have cancer. -[Annette] Right.
[Evelyn] It's the same thing, you know,
if you have the disease of alcoholism...
-[Felicia] Yeah. -...it's the same thing. You're not--
-they're not the same person. -[Felicia] Yeah.
[Annette] When the alcohol started manifesting itself
in that way, that people were like,
"We can't employ him."
The-- that didn't make him go, "Hmm...
maybe I should consider how far gone I am"?
[Evelyn] Um, well, he tried to sober up.
-[Felicia] Mm. -[Evelyn] He went to rehab.
-[Annette] Oh. -[Evelyn] Um, but the problem was,
-he did it for the wrong reasons. -[Annette] Mm.
So, he wrote Henry Winkler
this long, beautiful...
letter of forgiveness.
And, uh, I don't know if Henry ever read it, but...
it really, really hit home for him then.
You know,
that's when he had to make that choice.
[interviewer] Did you ever received this apology letter from Pat?
[light melancholic music]
Right.
You know, I have to tell you,
uh, I, I think that I receive this,
uh, this letter, and I thought to myself,
uh, I possibly, uh, called or wrote him,
um, that he did not need to apologize.
We are fragile.
Pat Morita was fragile.
And I think that the producers
and the cast understood that.
We were just happy that he was there,
so that the photograph at the end,
um, could include everybody.
[Nemo] To see him, uh...
just give up.
He ju-- he couldn't beat it,
you know, it-- it had a hold of him and, uh...
he chose to give up everything that he loved,
uh, in order to, uh...
continue drinking.
[Evelyn] When you start examining where he came from...
-[Annette] Mm-hmm. Right. -...it's nothing short of a miracle that he--
that he achieved what he did.
He told me, he said, "I want you to be candid, and honest,
and talk about all the good, the bad, and the ugly..."
-[Annette] Yeah. -...he says, "Because if I can save one poor soul
-from this disease... -[Annette] Mm.
...then I would've felt I've done something good
-for the world." -[Felicia] Yeah. Yeah.
When Pat went to rehab...
uh, I was going to Al-Anon.
And it was suggested,
uh, that I do, like, a collage
of a before and after, of the good times,
you know, the better times and,
and a collage of, you know, not such good times.
So I did this, um...
of the good times...
you know, our wedding,
star on the Walk of Fame,
our babies, you know, our family,
friends...
you know, Great Wall of China, the President.
An-- I just wanted to show him...
the difference, you know, th-- you know,
the changes that, that has transpired
because of his drinking, because of his alcohol--
uh, abuse and because of t-- the disease.
And I wanted to show him
the face of that disease,
and what it does.
Because I know he doesn't remember any of this.
And so, I started to keep a log, and I started to take pictures
because he didn't believe me.
This is in the garage.
Uh, I found him collapsed in the garage,
he had just gotten out of his car
and couldn't make it into the house and...
Uh, another time, when h-- it was so sad,
it's really hard for me. Um...
[deeply exhales]
[melancholic music]
You know, how do you save someone?
How do you save them...
if they don't want to save themselves?
How do you do that?
Because I never-- I never...
never for one-- for one minute did I hate him.
I knew addiction
because I went through it myself.
Not to that degree, but I understood it,
and it ran in my family.
But nothing I tried worked.
You know, uh,
threatening to leave him,
showing him how he's hurting other people,
his loved ones.
Nothing, nothing, nothing.
Nothing worked.
He told me one day, he said,
"I'm just going to go off to die."
"I'm not going to stand by
and watch you kill yourself here.
You better do it somewhere else."
[softly sobs] And that's what he did, basically,
he just left to, to die.
I know in my heart I did everything I could...
[softly sobs] you know.
[melancholic music]
[softly cries]
I really miss him.
[deeply inhales]
He was a great man.
Uh...
it was, uh, really hard to see him go down like that,
after everything that he fought through,
and everything that he did in his life,
and accomplished, and, and overcame. Um...
it was just hard to see someone that you love give up on life.
[man] Sadness and praise tonight
fromThe Karate Kid, Ralph Macchio,
for the man who played his mentor in the movie.
Actor Pat Morita, who earned an Academy Award nomination
for his role in the originalKarate Kid
has died.
Pat Morita was 74 years old.
[Pat singing in Japanese]
[man] Yes!
English.
[crowd cheers and claps]
♪ Storming winds of life
♪ May blow
♪ Even rain may fall
♪ Though paths above are dark
♪ Life will be bright on me
♪ Please say you will never leave me ♪
♪ For if you did I would die
[singing in Japanese]
♪ Means here with you is happiness ♪
[singing in Japanese]
♪ Oh!
-[Pat singing crazily] -[crowd laughs]
I love you, Evelyn.
[crowd cheering]
[unintelligible]
[Pat] How would Pat Morita like to be remembered?
I guess I'd like to be remembered...
for having touched a lot of lives in happy ways,
positive ways.
I'd like to be remembered as a,
a guy who might've been a failure as a husband,
but he was a hell of a daddy.
I don't know.
I'd like, uh, if I make it to the Pearly Gates,
I would like God to say, "Where the heck you been, man?
We've been waiting for you. Let's party."
[laughs]
You know how many guys-- your friends
are up here waiting for you, man."
[softly chuckles]
[cheerful music]
-[sharp beep] -I would thank him for the many gifts.
Uh, for including me in his journey.
And for allowing me to be the steward of his legacy.
And...
I hope that I fulfill the promise that he held me to.
I brought this picture today,
because this is how I remember Pat on the set,
and if he could see the Cobra Kais with, uh--
with our popsicles, uh, Cobra Kais with their popsicles
and you can see Pat's face there...
that's pretty much Pat every day,
you know, you can kind of see the fun.
That's a special shot right there, moments, so...
Pat...
I liked you the day we met.
And I liked you every day we worked together.
And I liked being in the shows we've made and put on.
He was one of the nicest men I've ever knew.
He was a kind gentleman
to me, to the producers,
to other actors, to the crew,
to the extras, to the guy that walked by the set
and wondered what was going on.
He was always open and a gentleman.
We need more people like that.
He was better than me
at staying in touch over the years.
I'd get those phone calls, "Hey, Ralphie,
it's Uncle Popsie and,
how you doing? Love your ass, baby, love your ass."
He'd always end the phone-- my kids would listen... [chuckles]
"Love your ass, baby."
When I were little kids, they loved that,
the fact that Mr. Miyagi would say,
"Love your ass, baby."
There's a certain kindness
in people...
that make you at ease immediately.
And he exhibited that.
Pat was a big pot smoker too.
Had he just stayed with the pot,
he'd be like me, he'd still be alive and he'd still be, uh,
doing interviews, talking about me, probably.
[interviewer chuckles]
My uncle, his philosophy in life was,
you know, "We're all going to die.
It's very important to leave behind
something positive that doesn't."
And Pat Morita left a lot behind that's positive...
that enlightens and inspires life every single day.
I met Pat back in 1983.
I never realized I would be making
a documentary on his life.
Um, I hope you guys enjoyed watching this
as much as I enjoyed making it.
[sharp beep]