Michael Wright, the actor who played the singer Eddie King Jr. in The Five Heartbeats, has died at the age of 70. He was born in 1956. His death was reported by the Los Angeles Times and carried on August 28 in SoulBounce's obituary column, which described the part as an iconic role in a cult classic film.
Wright's connection to music was through the screen rather than the stage, but it was a durable one. Eddie King Jr. is a singer, and the film's account of a group's rise and collapse has kept its place in how popular cinema is remembered by the soul audience. Wright was also known for the film Sugarhill and for the prison series Oz.
This account is deliberately short, and the reason is on the record rather than hidden. The only source available to us carries a single line about his death, and the standard here is to publish what a source actually says rather than to fill the gaps from memory. His death arrives in a week that also took Dolly Parton at 80, and a year that took the producer William Orbit at 69.
The facts
- Michael Wright has died at the age of 70
- He was born in 1956
- He played Eddie King Jr. in the 1991 film The Five Heartbeats
- He also appeared in Sugarhill and the HBO series Oz
How this checks out
Single source
Reported by a single outlet
Only one outlet has reported it so far, so it stays a single source.
Cited sources 1
Every outlet that reported this, linked to what it published. Equal credits, in alphabetical order.