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Just as most young actors who headed to New York post World War II, Eva Marie Saint was a staple on live television. In fact, her first TV appearance was in 1947 in a production of “A Christmas Carol” starring John Carradine as Scrooge. Saint, who celebrates her 100th birthday on July 4, told me in a 2013 L.A. Times interview that she didn’t appear on screen in her first TV gig that same year on NBC’s “The Borden Show.” She was hired to simply supply applause off-camera and called her parents to tell them the good news. “After the show, they called me and mom said, ‘Honey, we just love the show, and Dad thinks he heard you applauding.”’

Doing live TV got the lithe blonde actress a lot of exposure. One time it was way too much exposure. Between 1950-52, Saint appeared as the daughter of a high-powered San...

“Wax on, wax off.”

This classic line from The Karate Kid is ingrained in our minds as the epitome of cinematic martial arts lessons. It captures the elfin broken English of Mr. Miyagi in all his humble and quirky charm. Miyagi won our hearts as the kindly sensei, and the role earned Noriyuki “Pat” Morita (1932-2005) a nomination for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. But did you know that Mr. Miyagi was based on a real person? Actually, he was based on three people, all famous karate masters. Here are their stories.

The Legendary Grandmasters of Karate

Mr. Miyagi gets his name from Grandmaster Chojun Miyagi (1888-1953), the founder of an Okinawan style of karate called Goju-Ryu. Goju means “hard-soft,” and Ryu in this context means “school”. Goju-Ryu is still a popular style of karate, practiced worldwide to this day.

“It’s no coincidence that when Hollywood was looking to create the archetypal karate master,...

“I didn’t really think there were that many people out there who were interested in Mr. Miyagi,” Kevin Derek says. “But (it turns out) millions and millions of people are.”

Derek is a martial artist, producer, and documentarian, whose latest documentary, More Than Miyagi: The Pat Morita Story, seeks to humanize the man behind some of pop culture’s most mythical characters. The timing for such a doc couldn’t have been better, but it turns out that was simply good fortune.

“We started shooting this back in 2016, so it was a year before Cobra Kai was even in production,” says Derek. “They didn’t even know that they were going to shoot Cobra Kai.”

Everyone knows Pat Morita from his beloved Oscar-nominated role as Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid franchise, and many remember him as Arnold in the hit TV show Happy Days. However, Morita’s TV...

Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Paul Bogart has died at the age of 92.

He passed away on Sunday in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Bogart, who was born in New York City, first took a job as a travelling puppeteer before signing up to serve in the Army in World War II.

Immediately after, he began work at U.S. TV network NBC, rising up through the ranks until be became a director of hit shows like The Defenders and All in the Family, both of which earned him Emmy Awards.

Bogart additionally received two trophies for his work on CBS Playhouse and another as a co-producer of classic sitcom The Golden Girls.

The star's directing credits also include Bob Hope's last film Cancel My Reservation, Marlowe, Torch Song Trilogy and Oh, God! You Devil.