Pat E. Johnson was the actors’ coach in the films of the series
Karate Kid’s coach has died. American stuntman Pat E. Johnson, known for designing fights and training actors for the “Karate Kid” franchise and other popular martial arts films, has died of natural causes at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 84 years. He passed away on Sunday, November 5, “Variety” wrote, citing a post by Johnson’s niece, Colleen Mary Johnson Summerville, who broke the news on Facebook.
Pat E. Johnson had earned his ninth-degree black belt as a karate master and had put his martial arts skills to good use on the set of around forty films, starting with 1973’s “Full Dragon” , both as an instructor and stunt double, stuntman and actor. He had achieved success in Hollywood with “The Karate Kid” (1984), training the actors Pat Morita and Ralph Macchio – the master Miyagi and Danny Larusso – to whom he had taught reckless moves to perform in fights. He had the same role in “Karate Kid 2” (1986), “Karate Kid 3” (1989), “Karate Kid 4” (1994)
Johnson also worked as a stuntman and stunt coordinator on many other films, including “To Live and Die in Los Angeles” (1985), “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (1990) and its sequels, “Buffy: The Vampire Slayer” ( 1992) and “Mortal Kombat” (1995) and its sequels. Additionally, Johnson was one of the lead instructors at Chuck Norris’ karate schools, teaching at the Sherman Oaks location. In 1993 Johnson was honored with induction into the North American Sport Karate Association Hall of Fame.
Source-www.adnkronos.com