Michael Wright, the actor who played Eddie King Jr. in “The Five Heartbeats,” has died at 70.
His family said he died Wednesday, August 19, in Los Angeles, after heart failure along with complications from Marchiafava-Bignami disease, a rare degenerative neurological disorder. His wife, Susan Wright, announced it Friday evening on Instagram, writing that she was sharing the news with profound sadness and an unimaginable heaviness in her heart. She described him as a husband, a father, a grandfather, a friend, and an extraordinary artist whose work touched generations. She closed by telling him his work would live forever but his love would live longer in the hearts of the people who knew him best.
She also asked the public and the media to give the family privacy and grace, and to stop sharing unconfirmed information or speaking on the family’s behalf.
Eddie King Jr. is the role that made him permanent. Robert Townsend’s 1991 film turned 35 this year, and Wright played the lead singer who carries the group all the way up and then falls apart, a performance people still recite line for line. The film was not well received by critics when it came out and became a classic anyway, largely on the strength of what he did with that part.
He was born April 30, 1956, in New York City, and started on screen in Philip Kaufman’s 1979 crime drama “The Wanderers.” Four years later he played Carlyle in Robert Altman’s war drama “Streamers,” which earned him a share of the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival.
The rest of the résumé is long and varied. He played Victor Duncan in “The Principal” opposite Jim Belushi and Louis Gossett Jr., Raynathan Skuggs in the 1994 crime drama “Sugar Hill” alongside Wesley Snipes, and appeared in “Money Talks” with Chris Tucker, “Piñero,” “Point Blank” with Mickey Rourke, and “The Interpreter” with Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn. On television he played resistance leader Elias Taylor in NBC’s “V” and inmate Omar White on HBO’s “Oz,” with other credits including “Miami Vice,” “Scrubs,” and “Black Lightning.” His last screen credit was the 2025 crime drama “Dope King.”
In a 2021 interview with Sheen Magazine, Wright said the worst thing an actor can do is fail to be interesting, and that he wanted audiences riveted and wondering what was happening behind his eyes. He also said there was nothing in his life he would do over, that he had done everything he wanted to do, spoke five languages, had seen the world, and loved his experiences.
He is survived by his wife, Susan, his daughter, and his stepchildren. The family said they will share more about how they intend to honor and celebrate his life when they are ready.
