West News Wire: On the children’s television program “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” from the 1990s, Jason David Frank portrayed Tommy Oliver, the Green Power Ranger. He was 49.
Frank’s manager Justine Hunt announced his passing in a statement on Sunday. She pleaded for “privacy of his family and friends during this dreadful time as we come to terms with the loss of such a lovely human being,” but she did not specify the cause of death or the exact moment he passed away.
The original Black Power Ranger, Walter Emmanuel Jones, who featured alongside Frank in “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,” expressed his shock on Instagram. Jones commented, “My heart is saddened to have lost another member of our precious family. Thuy Trang, who played the original Yellow Power Ranger, died in a car accident in 2001 at age 27.
“Mighty MorphinPower Rangers,” about five teenagers deputized to save Earth from evil, debuted on Fox in 1993 and went on to become a pop-culture phenomenon. Early in the first season, Frank’s Tommy Oliver was first seen as a villain, brainwashed by the evil Rita Repulsa. But soon after, he was inducted in the group as the Green Ranger and became one of the most popular characters on the show.
Though his role wasn’t intended to be permanent, Frank was later brought back as the White Ranger and the leader of the team. Across spinoff TV series, Frank’s Tommy Oliver returned as other rangers, as well, including Red Zeo Ranger, the Red Turbo Ranger and the Black Dino Ranger. He also played him in the films “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie” and “Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie,” and made a cameo in the 2017 reboot “Power Rangers.”
A practitioner of martial arts, Frank fought in several mixed martial arts bouts in 2009 and 2010.
TMZ earlier reported that Frank’s second wife, Tammie Frank, filed for divorce from him in August. Frank is survived by four children; one from his marriage with Tammie Frank and three from his first marriage to Shawna Frank.
