Pat Morita, 73
Pat Morita, best known for his performance as a hamburger stand owner on Happy Days and as the instructor/guru to two generations of "Karate Kids" has died at the age of 73.Morita, born and raised in Northern California, was held in an interment camp as a youth during World War II, later went on to careers in the restaurant business and aerospace. He entered show business in the 30s, appearing in numerous television shows and sitcoms. In addition to his role on Happy Days as Arnold, Morita had a lesser known recurring role on that oh so LA-centric of sitcoms, Sanford and Son, as "Ah Chew" an Asian neighbor of Redd Foxx's Fred Sanford character.
Morita, whose given first name was Noriyuki, died Thursday of natural causes at his Las Vegas home. He leaves behind a wife and three daughters from a previous marriage.
Posted by Mayor Sam @ 11/25/2005 08:38:00 AM
8 Comments:
rest in peace good man
Sanford and Son = best Los Angeles sitcom ever (only matched perhaps by Good Times, and All in the Family for how funny it is)
Well remember that Good Times took place in Chicago and that All In The Family took place in Queens, New York City. But all three shows came from the same producer, Norman Lear.
There have been other shows set in LA, but not a lot of sitcoms. Sanford and Son was very specific with locations, etc. I think its the only show I know of set in Watts. Chico and the Man was somewhat similar being set in East LA and had a lot of LA references. But I think Sanford had more. Fred would always talk about El Segundo and they mentioned streets like Central, Florence, etc. Beverly Hillbillies was another one that mentioned a lot of specific, real places in LA, one time they even went to the drag strip at Whiteman Airport in Pacoima and they referred to it by name and as being "in the Valley."
Wax On
Wax Off
Thank you Pat for the memories.
Rest in Peace.
Trivia: which guest star did Fred Sanford accuse of having "TB"?
Wow, 4:20 and no colorful remarks from "Archie" on Pat's passing?
4:23
Let's put this in the useless trivia column, but Lillian Lehman did have a "Terrific Body" (Episode 5, Season 1).
Wow. That was good.
You searched that on the internet didn't you? Please tell me you did not just happen to have that information in your brain.
And if you did, please tell me you aren't a city worker.
"City worker"? Are you nuts?
Thant's an oxymoronic term if ever I heard one.
2:18
Yes the I-Net. And no, I'm not a city worker, rather a private sector veteran with nowhere to go on a Friday night.
If I were a city worker, it would have taken me five years, thousands of dollars, and I still would not have found the correct answer.
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