Bobby Wright, who played radio operator Willy Moss on “McHale’s Navy,” passed away Tuesday, Oct. 27, at his home in Madison, Tennessee. He was 84.
His family announced the news and said he went peacefully, with loved ones around him, Deadline reported. Wright was the last living member of the show’s main cast. Ernest Borgnine passed away in 2012 and Tim Conway in 2019.
What Was Bobby Wright’s Cause of Death?
The family hasn’t shared a cause of death. We’ll update this story if that changes.
Willy Moss on ‘McHale’s Navy’
Wright was born John Robert Wright Jr. on March 30, 1942, in Charleston, West Virginia.
He got the part on “McHale’s Navy” thanks to a screen test that didn’t work out. He’d tested for director Peter Tewksbury and didn’t get that role, but a producer putting together a new comedy saw the footage and cast him as Willy Moss, the radio operator on PT-73, according to music writer Eric Alper.
He stayed for the whole run on ABC, from 1962 to 1966, working alongside Borgnine and Conway. That’s 138 episodes, per The Daily Beast.
Kitty Wells’ Only Son
Music was the family business. His parents were Johnnie Wright and Kitty Wells, the singer known as the “Queen of Country Music.” Bobby was their only son, and he grew up mostly in Louisiana, where they played the Louisiana Hayride. He first sang on that show when he was 8. In 1958, the family moved back to Nashville after his parents became headliners at the Grand Ole Opry.
He kept singing while he was on TV. In 1965, with “McHale’s Navy” still in production, he recorded with his mother on one of her albums. After that he signed with Decca Records, and his first single, “Lay Some Happiness on Me,” reached No. 44 on the country chart in 1967.
‘Here I Go Again’
Over about 12 years with Decca, ABC and United Artists, Wright put 21 singles on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. The biggest was “Here I Go Again,” which got to No. 13 in 1971. His version of “Seasons in the Sun” reached No. 24 in 1974.
He also spent decades on the road with his parents, from the 1960s until they stopped touring in 2007.
Wright is survived by his daughters, LeAnn Henson and Kamela Stewart, four grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and his sister, Sue Sturdivant. So is Brenda Wright Moore, his former wife, whom Deadline described as his lifetime friend.
