{"id":822424,"date":"2026-08-22T20:02:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T20:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/822424\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T20:02:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T20:02:11","slug":"michael-wright-dead-the-five-heartbeats-star-was-70","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/822424\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Wright Dead: ‘The Five Heartbeats’ Star Was 70"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tActor Michael Wright<\/a>, known for his roles in The Five Heartbeats<\/a>, Sugar Hill, V and Oz, died Aug. 19 in Los Angeles. He was 70.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt is with profound sadness and an unimaginable heaviness in my heart that I share the passing of my beloved husband, Michael Wright,\u201d his wife Susan Wright wrote<\/a> on Instagram.<\/p>\n

\n\tCiting a statement from the family, TMZ reported<\/a> that Wright died from heart failure coupled with complications from Marchiafava-Bignam disease.<\/p>\n

\n\tWright made his debut in the 1979 coming-of-age drama The Wanderers. For his second feature, Robert Altman\u2019s 1983 Streamers, he shared the Best Actor Award at the Venice Film Festival with the rest of the main cast. <\/p>\n

\n\tIn 1991, Wright went on to play one of the five leads, troubled singer Eddie King, Jr., in Robert Townsend\u2019s musical drama The Five Heartbeats.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn features, he also appeared in The Principal, Sugar Hill, Money Talks, Point Black and The Interpreter.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn TV, Wright starred in the 1980s sci-fi franchise V, which spanned two miniseries and a TV series and had a major recurring role on HBO\u2019s Oz. Most recently, he did an arc on the CW\u2019s The Black Lightning. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMichael was a husband, a father (Manon Wright, Byron Barr, Brittney Briggs, Brianna Barr, Sir Barr), a grandfather (Yoko), loved one, a friend, and an extraordinary artist whose work touched generations,\u201d Susan Wright wrote.<\/p>\n