Pat Morita dies of natural causes

The Karate Kid was one of those movies that helped define a generation dominated by ninja-fighting turtles, ninja-fighting superheroes, ninja-fighting robots, etc, etc. This is one of the first movies that turned me on to ninja-fighting as a whole. The Karate Kid ranks with Bloodsport as my favorite martial arts movies from the 80's.

Noriyuki 'Pat' Morita who played Mr. Miyugi in The Karate Kid died of natural causes at the age of 73.

Morita also played Arnold on Happy Days, among other roles throughout his career.