![]() ![]() Morita was glad to be back with his family, but he was also too young to understand why they were being held. After a little over a year spent there, the family was transported to California’s Tule Lake War Relocation Center. He recalled being escorted (as an 11-year-old boy) by an FBI agent directly from the hospital to the Gila River War Relocation Center in Arizona. Unfortunately, the year was 1943, and Morita’s family were Japanese immigrants. When Morita was released from the hospital with his disease in check, he was reunited with his family. He later said, "If it wasn’t for my disease, I wouldn’t be here today." Though the experience was extremely difficult for him, Morita understood that the hardship of his childhood helped form his personality and make him who he was later in life. Morita recalled that his time spent at the Weimar Institute was emotionally and mentally taxing, so he "had to find things to laugh at." He would tell jokes, make up stories, and try to get his nurses to crack smiles. This is where Morita developed his sense of humor and comedic timing. Because of this, he spent much of his time staring at the ceiling, trying to come up with ways to keep himself entertained. Morita wasn’t just confined to a bed for almost a decade of his childhood -– he was often totally immobilized in a full-body cast that ran from neck to thigh. The treatment worked, and Morita was eventually able to defy grim expectations and overcome the worst-case scenarios for his disease. Eventually, Morita was transferred to San Francisco’s Shriners Hospital and was given the opportunity to go through an experimental bone graft treatment that allowed his spine to fuse. He spent almost a decade of his life in a TB ward called the Weimar Institute, often immobilized and encased in a full-body cast. Morita’s childhood was spent far from the world of strip-mall karate classes, however -– he actually suffered from a rare disease and was told he’d never be able to walk.Īt the age of two, Morita was diagnosed with tuberculosis of the spine, also known as Pott disease. He’s such an impressive and affecting mentor, he managed to reach kids in the real world: The film’s popularity is often cited as a primary force in the rise of youth martial arts academies. ![]() Here are some of the things you didn’t know about the man behind Mr. Like his most famous character, Morita himself lived a fascinating and tragic life. He would go on to reprise the role in three more films in the franchise. It was the only Oscar nod of Morita’s long acting career. His performance was so resonant, he even received an Academy Award nomination. Miyagi is from actor Pat Morita.īorn Noriyuki Morita, the actor brought a lot of himself to the role as the kindly but complicated Miyagi. Few characters from that era are as inseparable from their actors as Mr. Even though The Karate Kid isn’t always viewed as a true "martial arts" movie, few can deny its cultural impact or longevity – and a big part of the film’s success is due to Mr. Miyagi, the kind and beloved sensei of The Karate Kid, is one of the most legendary characters of the 1980s. ![]()
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