Michael Wright of the musical group The Five Heartbeats pose in the press room at the 2011 BET Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on June 26, 2011 in Los Angeles, California.
FilmMagic
Michael Wright, who starred in such films as The Five Heartbeats, The Principal and Sugar Hill, as well as the TV series V, has died.
The actor’s wife, Susan Wright, announced the actor’s death in a statement on Instagram (via Variety), saying, “It is with profound sadness and an unimaginable heaviness in my heart that I share the passing of my beloved husband, Michael Wright.”
Family members told TMZ in a statement that Wright died on Wednesday of heart failure and complications of Marchiafava-Bignami, which is a rare degenerative neurological disease. He was 70.
“Many knew and loved him through ‘The Five Heartbeats,’ ‘The Wanderers,’ ‘V,’ ‘The Principal,’ ‘Streamers,’ and the many other characters he brought to life throughout his remarkable career,” Susan Wright further wrote on Instagram. “His talent, presence, and contributions to film and television will live on, but to those of us who loved him personally, he was so much more than the roles the world knew him for.”
Directed by Robert Townshend from a screenplay by Townshend and Keenan Ivory Wayans, 1991’s The Five Heartbeats chronicled the fictional singing group of the same name. Wright plays Eddie King Jr., the talented but troubled lead singer of the group.
In V, which began as a miniseries on NBC in 1983 but became a regular series in 1984, Wright played Elias Taylor, one of the leaders of the Resistance after the First Invasion of aliens called the Visitors on Earth.
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