Michael Wright, an actor best known for starring as Eddie King Jr. in the oft-quoted and beloved Motown-inspired movie \u201cThe Five Heartbeats,\u201d as well as the HBO series \u201cOz,\u201d has died. He was 70 years old.<\/p>\n
The actor\u2019s wife, Susan Wright, confirmed<\/a> his death on social media on Friday, writing, \u201cIt is with profound sadness and an unimaginable heaviness in my heart that I share the passing of my beloved husband, Michael Wright.\u201d<\/p>\n The actor\u2019s family said in a statement to TMZ<\/a> that Michael Wright died on Wednesday in Los Angeles from apparent heart failure and complications associated with Marchiafava-Bignami, a rare and progressive neurological disorder.<\/p>\n \u201cMany 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,\u201d the post continued. \u201cHis 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.<\/p>\n \u201cOur family is grieving an enormous and deeply personal loss. We understand how much Michael meant to so many people, and we are grateful for the love, prayers, memories, and condolences already being shared.\u201d<\/p>\n Susan Wright asked for \u201cprivacy and grace to grieve\u201d and that \u201cpeople refrain from sharing unconfirmed information,\u201d adding that when the family is ready, they will share more about the actor\u2019s life and plans to honor him. <\/p>\n She added: \u201cMichael, your work will live forever, but your love will live even longer in the hearts of those who knew you best. Rest peacefully, my love. You will be missed beyond words.\u201d<\/p>\n Michael Wright was born April 30, 1956, in New York City. His mother, Alberta Wright, owned a vintage clothing store called Jezebel on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and Michael credits her with kick-starting his career. \u201cMiss Ana Strasberg came into the store, and my mom shared that she had a son who was a fledgling actor, and Miss Strasberg invited me to come down to the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute and to have a meeting with her, and that meeting … changed my life,\u201d he said during a 2015 appearance<\/a> on \u201cThe Sissy Gamache Show.\u201d<\/p>\n At the institute, Wright participated in a work-study program \u2014 mopping floors, answering phones and interviewing other acting hopefuls to see if they had what it took to make it in the program. Ana became Wright\u2019s mentor and he became Lee Strasberg\u2019s secretary. <\/p>\n \u201cI came to the acting process having read every conceivable thing that concerned it. … I was an acolyte of Konstantin [Stanislavski.] I knew [Richard] Boleslavski. I knew [Yevgeny] Vakhtangov. And I understood how the process occurred \u2014 it was relaxation. It was concentration. Intent. I would score my scripts like it was nobody\u2019s business, and I would do everything word for word, line for line, moment for moment, beat for beat,\u201d he told Gamache. <\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the day, when the man said, \u2018Cut,\u2019 I take that character off like this shirt and hang him up in the closet.\u201d <\/p>\n Wright landed his first film role in 1979\u2019s \u201cThe Wanderers\u201d and his first big television break in 1983 as Elias Taylor on the science fiction miniseries \u201cV,\u201d which carried over into 1984\u2019s \u201cV: The Final Battle\u201d and in the \u201cV\u201d series that ran from 1984 to 1985.<\/p>\n \u201cI never decided to go to L.A.,\u201d he told Gamache. \u201cI had to go.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI got cast in a science fiction miniseries. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life: landing at LAX, being picked up and driven down the I-10 and coming down Barham Boulevard and seeing the Warner Brothers studio,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt was like descending into the Emerald City. I was there and going through that studio gate, and being directed to my dressing room, and being able to have the freedom to walk around that lot and to see all of those sets that I was familiar with from my childhood.\u201d <\/p>\n Through the \u201980s, he acted in television projects including \u201cMiami Vice\u201d and films including 1987\u2019s \u201cThe Principal,\u201d starring Jim Belushi and Louis Gossett Jr., and the 1987 romantic drama \u201cBedroom Eyes.\u201d <\/p>\n In the \u201990s, he acted in a number of cult classics, including \u201cLionheart<\/a>,\u201d \u201cSugarhill\u201d and the project he\u2019s most well-known for, \u201cThe Five Heartbeats,<\/a>\u201d in which Wright portrays the volatile and drug-addled soul singer Eddie King Jr., widely considered the heart of the movie. <\/p>\n \u201cEddie King Jr. is without a question an iconic film figure in African American cinema,\u201d the actor told Gamache. \u201cI can\u2019t go anywhere on any given day and not encounter people that figure me out as Eddie King. They know all my songs, and they know my lines better than me.\u201d<\/p>\n By the aughts, Michael was asked to audition for a one-episode role in the OG prestige HBO drama \u201cOz,\u201d in which he played an inmate with a penchant for poetry. <\/p>\n \u201cI went in there, and I just went totally berserk,\u201d he told Gamache of the audition. \u201cAnd I went through a week of that episode, and then after that was finished, I went back to my dressing room, and there was another script on my bed. And I said, \u2018OK, that\u2019s interesting.\u2019 So I did that episode. And then when that was finished, there was another script on my bed, and I said, \u2018OK.\u2019 And then I did that episode, and there was another script on my bed. And so I said, \u2018Oh s\u2014! I guess I must be a regular.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Robert Townsend, who directed and starred as Donald \u201cDuck\u201d Matthews in \u201cThe Five Heartbeats,\u201d told \u201cThe Breakfast Club\u201d<\/a> in 2018 that he\u2019d actually had Denzel Washington in mind for the role, but when Wright came in to read, he knew \u201cthis is the dude to play Eddie King.\u201d<\/p>\n Townsend posted a tribute on X over the weekend, writing alongside a clip from the film that featured Wright as Eddie singing in a choir, \u201cTears\u2026 flowing as I write this. Michael was a \u2018Pure Artist.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Wright is survived by his wife, Susan; his children Manon Wright, Byron Barr, Brittney Briggs, Brianna Barr and Sir Barr; and a grandchild, Yoko.<\/p>\n