More Than Miyagi: The Pat Morita Story (2021) - full transcript

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.

Well, uh,
here he is, Pat Morita.

Mr. Pat Morita.



Oh, yes.

Pat Morita,
ladies and gentlemen!

It's a great pleasure

to be back on Hollywood Palace.

Why am I talking like that for?

I don't talk like that.

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.

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.

He told me he'd never
stop drinking.

And one of the reasons he said,
he didn't think he'd be funny.

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--

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.

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.

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?

- You have an hour?
- Yeah.

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.

- Oh, wow.
- 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?"
- Right?

He was always,
like, my uncle Pat.

You know, right?

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.

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?

I don't know.

Are they all important?

Um, for the most part,

but they just need
to be sorted and correlated.

But are they really important?

Huh?

How are you? Look.

Chime in.

I'm doing a documentary

about celebrity psychosis.

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.

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.

Flash, Washington.

The White House announces Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

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.

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.

Where did they go after that?
Did they relocate them,

come back to California?

They moved to Sacramento

and they opened up
a Chinese restaurant.

But why a Chinese restaurant?

Because Japanese food
wasn't popular there.

Guess not.

And Japanese people were

still being
discriminated against.

And, in fact,
a lot of Japanese people

claimed they were Chinese. Yeah.
- Wow.

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.

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.

- Oh, wow.
- Yeah.

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.

I heard he was married
a few times.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, he was married
twice before.

Uh, his first wife was Kay...

Okay.
- ...and they had a daughter, Erin.

And his second wife was Yuki,
and they had two children,

uh, Ali and Tia.

- All girls.
- He was a great father.

Oh.
- Yeah, he really loved his kids.

That's awesome.

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.

Here he is, in his first
television appearance,

Pat Morita. Pat!

Okay, so much for the Japanese
portion of my act.

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.

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."

And the next thing I know,

I'm working all over the place,

"The Hip Nip,"
that was my billing.

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?"

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.

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...

"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.

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.

...who else?

Give me sake, give me sake,
give me sake, give me sake.

Not me, her,
you wrong-eye idiot.

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.

Hat.

Love will...

...keep us together.

Good, uh? Uh?

Well, oh, Pat, I--
I really have to be honest.

It was the pits, Pat.

The pits, 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.

The Bob Newhart Show, uh,

I think I was a bartender.

I just can't think
of the name of it.

Harvey Wallbanger.

Oh, Howard Borden.

Aren't you ever going
to get married again?

- Why should I?
- I need a mother.

You can have mine.

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?

Yeah, she was,
after Pearl Harbor.

That's Deputy Captain.

You painted the wrong cabin.

Oh. Deputy Captain.

You painted the wrong room.

Cabin.

I am now silent partner.

Oh, don't be a bad bird.

If, as they say,
we are what we eat,

then your friend is a meatball.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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."

And, and actually,
I joined them the third year of their existence.

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.

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?

- 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 do we want?
- We want Arnold.

What--

What is it?

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.

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.

So, the next thing you know,

the Arnold, he talk
like the old Chinese cook,

and he laugh like the old
Chinese...

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!

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.

Happy Days is filmed
before a live audience.

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.

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-- 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."

And they walked out--

Oh, boy...
This business.

So I got an ad in the mail!
There's a guy named

Mitsumo Takahashi
giving jiu-jitsu lessons.

Where, Tokyo?

No, he gives them right here
at Arnold's, on Sunday night.

- No kidding.
- Yeah!

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.

I got it.

Well, that was a--

a precursor of things to come.

Okay. I'm looking
for another loudmouth volunteer.

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 ♪

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.

Bye!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

They paid me for 13 episodes.

We, uh, shot ten,
they showed four,

and we were off the air.

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...

"Pat Morita,
where the heck is Pat Morita?

I got to find--"

And the secretary, Sarah, says,

"He just walked
out the door, sir."

"Pat, get your butt back in here,
you got to read this script.

I think it's perfect
for you, right?"

So I do. I like the part.

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.

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."

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...

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.

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.

Mr. Miyagi, wha-- what,
what belt do you have?

Oh! Canvas. You like?

Yeah, it's very nice.

Uh, J.C. Penney, 3,98.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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!

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."

And Ralph had
no interest in learning,

which was perfect
because he was not supposed

to know how to do anything.

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.

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.

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.

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...
- Really?

...doubled for him in all
The Karate Kidmovies.

- 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.

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.

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.

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."

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."

Yes.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Regret to inform...

wife has...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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."

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!"

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.

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.

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?

Oh, God. Yes.

- You know, it's funny, he spoke very little Japanese.
- It's crazy.

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."

What?
- 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."

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--

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...

You know,
it was sickening to see,

it turned my stomach
to see people do those roles.

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...

He's ranting, and raving, and--

But that was two weeks ago!

You cannot go under
and keep ringing my bell!

That came to symbolize,

"This is what you think
we're like."

Now if you saw this part, you--

you might say, "Geez!"

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.

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!"

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.

- Fine banana.
- No, no, no.

That-- those are for your feet.

Audience has actually embraced

a Mr. Miyagi and Pat Morita.

They embrace a Bruce Lee,

when you get the real thing.

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...

Chan, you have offended
my family.

Now I must avenge
my brother's death.

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...

- Wow.
- ...for Amos, the TV movie.

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.

Pat Morita is Ohara.

The name is Ohara.

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.
- Wow.

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,

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.

And we also visited

one of the internment camps
where he was at,

- uh, Gila River in Arizona.
- 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.

It's okay.

He said, "You know,
a day didn't go by that,

uh, you didn't hear
about a suicide...

- Oh.
- ...or stillborn,

or somebody dying from, uh,

an illness they couldn't
treat or malnutrition."

Mm-hmm.
- I mean, the conditions were just horrible,

they were just horrendous.

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...

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.

So, when did you guys
get married?

- We got married in 1994...
- Wow.

...in Vegas, at the old
Elvis Presley mansion.

Oh, my gosh!
- And then we had a big wedding reception

in Hawaii for-- it was a lot of friends.
- Oh, nice.

Nice.
- He wanted this big, lavish wedding.

How fun!

Nice!

- On this day...
- 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...

- ...from this day forward...

...until the end of time.

Did you maintain your career

during that time
that you were married to him

or did you dedicate yourself to just--
- No,

- I pretty much gave it up.
- Mm.

He, he didn't want me to work.

- Oh.
- Oh, wow.

He never said it,

- but I kind of knew it.
- Um. Yeah.

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.

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.

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?"

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."

Wax on, wax off.

- Wax on--
- Very good, Judy san.

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.

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...

A newcomer, Hilary Swank,

kicks into Ralph Macchio's
old territory

asThe Next Karate Kid,

who is once again
under Pat Morita's guidance.

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.

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."

He loved to poke fun
at Jerry Weintraub.

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.

Comedian? I don't know,

do you remember the old days?

We were the bad guys.

Fire one!

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.

And he drank too much,

and his liver reacted.
He had to go in.

You're all so short in talent.

Alright,
I'll do this the hard way,

you want to see an Eskimo pee?

Did that go over
their heads too?

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.

Okay, you have to understand,
he was drinking

- since the age of 12.
- Wow.

Uh, his father was an alcoholic,

his grandfather
was an alcoholic,

as a matter of fact,
his grandfather

was making bootleg sake...

- Oh, my gosh!
- ...in the internment camp

and keeping everybody wasted.

Oh, wow.

And, of course,
the children, you know,

- they had nothing better to do.
- Well, yeah.

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.

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.

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."

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...

Oh.
- ...because he was an unwanted child.

Oh.
- The mother he thought raised him

- was really his aunt.
- Oh, wow.

It was his aunt's sister

that was really
his biological mother.

- Mm.
- And...

how convenient was it

that he happened to get sick at the age of two.
- Mm.

Now, they just sent him away.
- Mm-hmm.

So it's like,
"Let's get rid of the problem."

So he had to deal with a lot of that.
- 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.

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.

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--
- China Girl or Rise China?

Yeah. Oh, yeah. That-- oh.

God, it was pretty bad.

I mean, I-- I,
I remember that, whoa!

These women are hookers.

Don't you fall in love
with any hookers.

"Flied lice."

It's fried rice, you plick!

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.

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...

...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."

When his father died, it was,
it was, um, it really affected him.

He was hit by a pick-up truck and the...
- Oh, my God.

the guy that was driving
didn't even know.

He was dragging him for blocks and blocks and blocks.
- 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...

Mm-hmm.
- ...so it's no wonder he drank...

- Yeah. Yeah.
- ...all his life.

He never recovered from those wounds.
- Wow.

- Yeah.
- You know.

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.
- Right.

I mean, look at Richard Pryor,

Lenny Bruce,

- uh, Robin Williams.
- Yeah.

Mm-hmm.
- If you look into their past,

you'll see that there's
a history there of depression,

- or, you know, some issues.
- 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...

He was slumped over
on the front steps,

dead drunk.

He looked like
a homeless person.

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.

Hey!

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?"

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."

I've always known that

- alcoholism was a disease...
- Mm-hmm.

Yes.
- ...and I never stopped loving him.

You don't stop loving someone

- if they have cancer.
- Right.

It's the same thing, you know,

if you have the disease
of alcoholism...

Yeah.
- ...it's the same thing. You're not--

- they're not the same person.
- Yeah.

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"?

Um, well, he tried to sober up.

- Mm.
- He went to rehab.

Oh.
- Um, but the problem was,

he did it for the wrong reasons.
- 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.

Did you ever received
this apology letter from Pat?

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.

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.

When you start examining
where he came from...

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..."

Yeah.
- ...he says, "Because if I can save one poor soul

- from this disease...
- Mm.

...then I would've felt
I've done something good

- for the world."
- 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...

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."

And that's what he did,
basically,

he just left to, to die.

I know in my heart
I did everything I could...

you know.

I really miss him.

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.

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.

Yes!

English.

♪ 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

♪ Means here
with you is happiness ♪

♪ Oh!

I love you, Evelyn.

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."

You know how many guys--
your friends

are up here
waiting for you, man."

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...

"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.

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.