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Bobby Wright, a country singer and actor who played the radio operator on the 1960s TV comedy "McHale’s Navy" and was the son of country music pioneer Kitty Wells, has died at 84.
His family said in an obituary notice that Wright died Tuesday at his home in Madison, Tennessee.
Wright, billed as John Wright, played radio operator Willy Moss on ABC’s World War II comedy "McHale’s Navy," which starred Ernest Borgnine, Joe Flynn and Tim Conway. He appeared in all 138 episodes over four seasons (1962-66) and in two films based on the show.
He later built his own music career. From 1967 to 1979, Wright recorded for Decca, ABC and United Artists Records and landed 21 singles on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.
His biggest hit, "Here I Go Again," reached No. 13 in 1971. Other songs included "Lay Some Happiness on Me" and a cover of "Seasons in the Sun."
Born John Robert Wright Jr. in Charleston, West Virginia, in 1942, Wright grew up in a musical family.
His father, Johnnie Wright, performed in the duo Johnnie & Jack, often with his mother. He sang and played guitar with his parents on "Louisiana Hayride" at age 8, and the family moved to Nashville in 1958 when they became Grand Ole Opry headliners.
After he auditioned for a TV role that never materialized, a "McHale’s Navy" producer saw his screen test and cast him.
After "McHale’s Navy" ended, Wright took smaller acting roles, including a 1966 guest spot on "Pistols 'n' Petticoats" and a part in the 1974 film "Catch the Black Sunshine."
He also played bass, trumpet, and drums, appeared for years on the syndicated "Kitty Wells Johnnie Wright Family Show" and toured with his parents until they retired from the road in 2007.
His mother, a Country Music Hall of Fame member, was the genre’s first female superstar, scoring nearly three dozen Top 10 hits between 1952 and 1965, including the No. 1 song "It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels."
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