I looked it up YM. Pat Morita was born June 28,1932. He spent most of his early years in the hospital, suffering from spinal tuberculosis. Upon leaving the hospital he was put into a Japanese-American internment camp in Arizona until WWII ended.
Very sad. But obviously he was a strong-willed man, because he certainly made something of his life.

Sad to hear about Pat Morita's death.
I am surprised to learn that the guy in Etude in Black is the same guy from the Karate Kid movies! Is this something everyone but me knew? It's amazing the people that turn up in Columbo.

I know I'm getting off topic, but Morita's death reminded me of the Asian actor who played a houseboy in the old Bachelor Father series of the late fifties and perhaps early sixties. Does anyone know his name and if he is still around? Or for that matter Hop Sing on the old Bonanza series?

Hey Michael.
The actor from Bachelor Father was Sammee Tong...he played Peter Tong. Sadly he commitied suicide on October 27,1963...he was 63. Supposedly he was a close friend of Mickey Rooney's and he co-starred on Mickey's tv show, entitled "Mickey", and when the show was canceled he just couldn't take the disappointment.........very sad.
A side note...our wonderful Vito Scotti appeared on 3 episodes of Bachelor Father.
Victor Sen Yung played Hop Sing on Bonanza. He died on 11/9/80 at the age of 65, from the result of an "accidental aphyxiation". I don't know exactly what kind of aphyxiation it was.
Another side note...Yung was also in the cast of Bachelor Father.

I obviously have been hitting the imdb site!!

oops...he commited suicide in 64....

Wow!! It would seem if anybody has a question, someone who regularly visits this site has the answer. A sad case with Sammee Tong as well as the actor who portrayed Hop Sing. These were my first glimpses of Asian actors--and I suppose helped me and other Americans give up the stereotypes of Asians . . . but wait, so who played the "POW" character on McHale's Navy in the 60's?

This was a little tougher Michael.
The actor's name was Yoshio Yoda and he appeared in 3 episodes. He portrayed a seaman of the Imperial Japanese Navy, A.W.O.L. In 2 episodes his name was Takeo 'Fugi' Fujiwara, and in the other he was Fuji Kobiaji. I couldn't find anything about his bio.

imdb is your friend.

oops...again!!
He was in more than 3 episodes...

He was also in a movie called The Horizontal Lieutenant.

I think I saw Horizontal Lt. Jim Hutton, I think. He and David Wayne made a great Ellery Queen series.

yup..jim hutton....i only saw a few ellery gueens...but i read a lot of the stories...they were great! after i finished off all the sherlock holmes stuff i moved on to ellery queen....great reads!

The old Ellery Queen from the 70's were repeated on A&E maybe 10-15 years ago. It must of been against a popular show; Don't think it lasted more than a season. I don't think Jim Hutton lived more than a few years after the demise of the show--still a young man as I recall.