Pat Morita, star of HAPPY DAYS and THE KARATE KID, died this weekend at the age of 73. Unless you’re a racist, you can’t help but like Pat Morita. Recently his name came up among my friends and I corrected, “You mean Academy Award nominee Pat Morita,” and they looked at me like I was crazy. But it’s easy to forget that yes, Mr. Morita was indeed nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1984 for his immortal role as Mr. Miyagi in THE KARATE KID, a character he went on to revive in all three sequels, the last of which starred Hilary Swank and was the butt of a perfectly awesome joke a few weeks ago on THE OFFICE.

However, my favorite of role of his was as the mystical Asian overlord Kane in Andy Sidaris’ T&A action classic DO OR DIE. I’m sure he was equally great in AMERICAN NINJA V or LAMB CHOP’S SPECIAL CHANUKAH, but I haven’t seen either of those. Yet.

Wax on, wax off, Mr. Miyagi. You did it all for the glory of love.

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