Born in northern California on June 28, 1932, the son of migrant fruit pickers, Morita spent most of his early years in the hospital with spinal tuberculosis. He later recovered only to be sent to a Japanese-American internment camp in Arizona during World War II.
"One day I was an invalid," he recalled in a 1989 AP interview. "The next day I was public enemy No. 1 being escorted to an internment camp by an FBI agent wearing a piece."
After the war, Morita's family tried to repair their finances by operating a Sacramento restaurant. It was there that Morita first tried his comedy on patrons.
Because prospects for a Japanese-American standup comic seemed poor, Morita found steady work in computers at Aerojet General. But at age 30 he entered show business full time.
"Only in America could you get away with the kind of comedy I did," he commented. "If I tried it in Japan before the war, it would have been considered blasphemy, and I would have ended in leg irons. "

posted by hilary at 10:25 AM |

3 Comments:

 Stephen said...

Wow, I never knew all that about him. It makes me like him even more.

11/30/2005 5:04 PM  

 Roy said...

I saw this the other day too, really shocked me, the guy always seemed invincible.

Who hasn't seen the karate kid?

RIP dude!

12/03/2005 9:45 AM  

 Roy said...

Hey Hilary, I tagged you over on my blog!

12/07/2005 8:49 PM  

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