Noriyuki “Pat” Morita is dead. He was 73 years old.
Morita died Thursday, November 24, 2005, at his home in Las Vegas, of natural causes. He’s to be buried at Palm Green Valley Mortuary and Cemetery. He is survived by his second wife, actress Evelyn Guerrero, and three daughters from his previous marriage to Yuki Morita-Scott.
He always played characters who had a heavy oriental accent. His wasn’t all that strong actually, and sometimes you could catch him in a TV series or in a movie of the week speaking in his natural voice.
While I’m sure the money was good, I wonder if Pat ever got tired of his agent calling and saying, “Hey, Pat, I’ve got a new role for you in an ABC sitcom. It’s going to be big. You play the part of a Chinese man with a heavy accent.”