Noriyuki “Pat” Morita was born on the 28th June 1932, in Isleton, California, USA, and was an actor of Japanese ancestry who had numerous notable roles both on television in such as “Happy Days” (1975-1983), and in films including “The Karate Kid” (2004) for which he was nominated for Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1985. Morita’s acting skills certainly increased his net worth. His career started in 1960 and lasted until his death in 2005.
Have you ever wondered how rich Pat Morita was, at the time of his death? According to authoritative sources, it has been estimated that Pat Morita’s net worth was as high as $5 million. His successful career in movies and TV shows contributed most of his wealth.
Pat Morita Net Worth $5 Million
Noriyuki Morita was raised in California, the younger of two children of Tamaru and Momoye Morita, who immigrated to America from Japan in 1912. Pat’s older brother Harry was born twelve years before him. As a toddler, Morita suffered from spinal tuberculosis and was forced to spend the next nine years in hospitals in Northern California, not being discharged from the hospital until he was 11, and then he started learning to walk. As a result of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbour, Morita was transferred to Internment of Japanese Americans in Gila River camp in Arizona to join his family. After the war, his family opened a restaurant in Sacramento, and Pat’s job was to entertain the customers.
Pat had a couple of unremarkable roles before getting a part in George Roy Hill’s comedy “Thoroughly Modern Millie” in 1967. The following year, Morita appeared in “The Shakiest Gun in the West” with Don Knotts, Barbara Rhoades, and Jackie Coogan, and then had episode roles in various TV series. In the first half of the 70’s, Pat worked in “Evil Roy Slade” (1972) starring Mickey Rooney, Russ Mayberry’s “A Very Missing Person” (1972), and in two episodes of “M*A*S*H” (1973-1974).
He later had roles in the TV series “Sanford and Son” (1974-1976), “Mr. T and Tina” (1976), “Blansky’s Beauties” (1977), and in the movie “Midway” (1976) starring Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, and James Coburn. He appeared in 26 episodes of “Happy Days” from 1975 to 1983, which was his biggest project at the time. However, the movie “The Karate Kid” in 1984 was his best work in his career, and Morita was nominated for an Oscar. Pat continued to be busy during the 80’s, and had roles in “Amos” (1985) starring Kirk Douglas, Harry Harris’ “Alice in Wonderland” (1985), the less successful sequel of “The Karate Kid 2” (1986), and starred in “Captive Hearts” (1987).
Morita was a lead actor in the series “Ohara” (1987-1988), had another part in “The Karate Kid 3” (1989), “Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes” (1990) starring Max von Sydow and Judd Nelson, and Michael Engler’s “Mastergate” (1992). In the mid-90’s, Morita starred in “Greyhounds” (1994) with James Coburn and Robert Guillaume, and in “The Next Karate Kid” (1994) with Hilary Swank, before being cast in a leading role in the series “The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo” (1996-1998). He gave his voice to the Emperor in “Mulan” (1998), and worked in Bob Clark’s “I’ll Remember April” (2000), Wayne Wang’s “The Center of the World” (2001), and appeared in five episodes of “Baywatch” (2000-2001).
In the last few years before his death, Morita had parts in “The Stoneman” (2002), “Down and Derby” (2005), and “American Fusion” (2005). However, even after he died, Morita’s movies saw daylight, and some of them are: Robin Christian’s “Act Your Age” (2011), Jason Bunch’s “Blunt Movie”, and most recently, Michael Fischa’s “Rice Girl” (2014).
Regarding his personal life, Pat Morita was married to Kathleen Yamachi from 1953 to 1967(divorced) and had one child with her. He later married Yukiye Kitahara from 1970 to 1989 (divorced), and had two children with her. Morita’s third wife was Evelyn Guerrero from 1994 to his death – he died from kidney failure aged 73, on the 24th November 2005 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
