July 4 • 2019 41
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continued on page 42
soul
of blessed memory
Actor Max
Wright, Native
Detroiter, Dies
Detroit native and acclaimed actor
Max Wright died June 26, 2019, at
age 75. Wright had been battling
lymphoma for years prior to his
death.
Wright is best known for his role
in the NBC sitcom ALF, in which
he played the father, Willie Tanner.
Wright also had roles on the shows
Cheers, Taxi, Murphy Brown,
Buffalo Bill, The Drew Carey Show
and Friends. In addition to tele-
vision shows, Wright starred in
movies including All That Jazz,
Snow Falling on Cedars, Soul Man
and Reds and the television movie
Playing for Time.
Wright had an accomplished
career in theater, even earning a
Tony nomination for his work in
Chekhov’
s Inavov. He starred in
many plays, including one at the
Jewish Ensemble Theatre (JET) in
West Bloomfield under JET found-
er Evelyn Orbach. Chris Bremer,
who also worked with Wright at
JET, has fond memories of Wright’
s
appearance on JET’
s stage.
“Max was kind enough to grace
our stage about 11 years ago in Old
Wicked Songs,” Bremer said. “When
he was performing, he was stellar.”
Bremer went on to discuss
Wright’
s varied talents, saying he
and co-star Daniel Kahn played the
piano live during the show. “It was
a fabulous show,” Bremer said. “We
were very lucky to have Max here.”
Wright is survived by his two
children and will live on in the
hearts of his fans.
— Jessie Cohen, JN Intern
NBC
W
e hear kind words consistently
.W
e’re proud that
people feel comfortable enough with us to openly tell
us how much they appreciate what we did for them.
In fact,it’s this appreciation that drives us to offer the
very best in comfort,compassion and service.
‘‘They were
wonderful.
’’
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