Obituary / Published 2026-10-31

Bobby Wright, McHale's Navy Actor and Son of Kitty Wells, Dies at 84

The actor and country singer, who played radio operator Willy Moss on the ABC sitcom McHale's Navy, died on Tuesday at his home in Madison, Tennessee. He was 84.

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THE SHORT VERSION

  • Bobby Wright died on Tuesday, 27 October, at his home in Madison, Tennessee, at 84; his family announced the death, and Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter both report it.
  • He was billed as John Wright when he played radio operator Willy Moss on McHale's Navy, which The Hollywood Reporter says ran 138 episodes between 1962 and 1966.
  • As a country singer he put 21 singles on Billboard's country chart between 1967 and 1979 and reached No. 13 with Here I Go Again in 1971, and he was the son of Kitty Wells and Johnnie Wright.

The family announced the death

Bobby Wright, who played the radio operator Willy Moss on the ABC sitcom McHale's Navy and later recorded country singles under his own name, died on Tuesday, 27 October, at his home in Madison, Tennessee, according to Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter. He was 84. Both outlets report that his family announced the death.

Deadline reports that the family said Wright died peacefully surrounded by loved ones; The Hollywood Reporter carries the announcement without that wording. Deadline gives the date as Tuesday, 27 October, while The Hollywood Reporter says only that he died on Tuesday. Neither outlet reports a cause of death, and neither describes a funeral or memorial arrangement. Deadline calls him the last surviving cast member of McHale's Navy; The Hollywood Reporter does not make that claim.

Willy Moss, on all 138 episodes

The Hollywood Reporter reports that Wright appeared in all 138 episodes of McHale's Navy, which starred Ernest Borgnine, Joe Flynn and Tim Conway and aired for four seasons from 1962 to 1966. Deadline reports the series ran on ABC over the same years, was created by Edward Montagne, and followed the misadventures of a U.S. Navy P.T. crew stationed on the fictional Pacific island base of Taratupa.

Deadline describes Wright's Willy as part of a decidedly un-militaristic but always battle-ready crew under Borgnine's Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale, an unconventional officer forever at odds with Flynn's strict, by-the-book and entirely ineffective Captain Binghamton. The Hollywood Reporter reports that the show was set on the Navy boat PT-73 in the Pacific during the Second World War. Both outlets note that he was billed as John Wright on the series.

Two features and a handful of guest roles

Both outlets report that he appeared with the rest of the cast in the 1964 feature McHale's Navy. They date the follow-up differently: Deadline places McHale's Navy Joins The Air Force in 1965, The Hollywood Reporter places it in 1966. Neither outlet explains the discrepancy.

Deadline reports that after the series ended Wright had a brief acting career, with 1966 episodes of the CBS comedy Pistols 'n' Petticoats and the NBC Western The Road West. The Hollywood Reporter reports that he played a robber on a 1966 episode of Pistols 'n' Petticoats, which it calls a short-lived Western starring Anne Sheridan, and that he appeared in the 1974 film Catch the Black Sunshine, starring Ted Cassidy and Chris Robinson.

21 singles and a No. 13 hit

Deadline reports that as Bobby Wright he placed more than 20 singles on the Billboard Country Songs chart between 1967 and 1979, and that his biggest, 1971's “Here I Go Again”, reached No. 13. The Hollywood Reporter puts the count at 21 singles on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and gives the same peak for the same song. Neither report gives a total sales figure or a music award nomination.

Deadline reports two more Top 40 entries, “Lovin' Someone on My Mind” in 1973 and “Seasons in the Sun” in 1974, and notes that Terry Jacks had a No. 1 pop hit with his version of the latter that same year. The Hollywood Reporter lists “Lay Some Happiness on Me”, “Everybody Needs a Rainbow”, “I'm Turning You Loose” and the “Seasons in the Sun” cover among his other singles. Both outlets report that he recorded for Decca, ABC and United Artists Records from 1967 to 1979.

Kitty Wells, Johnnie Wright and the family show

Both outlets report that Wright was the son of Kitty Wells and the country singer Johnnie Wright. Deadline calls Wells the first major female country singer to top the U.S. charts, which she did in 1952 with “It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels”. The Hollywood Reporter calls her a Country Music Hall of Fame member and country's first female superstar, with nearly three dozen Top 10 hits between 1952 and 1965, and reports that Johnnie Wright toured the South in an act called Johnnie & Jack, with Wells often performing with them.

The Hollywood Reporter reports that Wright sang with his parents on the Louisiana Hayride at eight, played guitar, and moved with the family to Nashville in 1958 when his parents became headliners at the Grand Ole Opry. Both outlets report that he toured with the family show until 2007. Deadline names it the Kitty Wells Johnnie Wright and Bobby Wright family show; The Hollywood Reporter calls it the syndicated Kitty Wells Johnnie Wright Family Show and reports that he also played bass, trumpet and drums.

Charleston, an audition and two survivor lists

Both outlets give his birth as 30 March 1942 in Charleston, West Virginia, and the name John Robert Wright Jr. Deadline reports that he moved to Los Angeles after high school for a career in show business and soon landed the McHale's Navy role. The Hollywood Reporter reports that he came to Hollywood to audition for the director Peter Tewksbury, that the show did not move forward, and that a McHale's Navy producer saw his screen test. It adds that he graduated from Madison High School, where he played baseball, basketball and football.

The survivor lists differ. Deadline reports that he is survived by daughters LeAnn Henson and Kamela Stewart, their husbands, four grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, a sister named Sue Sturdivant, his former wife and lifetime friend Brenda Wright Moore, and five nieces and nephews. The Hollywood Reporter lists a sister, Carol Sue, the same two daughters, four grandchildren by name, five great-grandchildren and his former wife Brenda. Deadline also reports that his mother died in 2012, his father in 2011 and his sister Ruby Wright Taylor in 2009. Neither list is identical, and neither outlet explains the difference. Related coverage on this site includes Earl Barret's obituary, Elke Sommer's obituary and Patrick Stewart's obituary.

Sources & reporting limits

  1. John "Bobby" Wright Dead: ‘McHale’s Navy’ Actor, Kitty Wells Son, Was 84 — Deadline
  2. Bobby Wright Dead: ‘McHale’s Navy’ Actor, Son of Kitty Wells Was 84 — The Hollywood Reporter
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