NEW YORK (AP) — Jason David Frank, who played Green Power Ranger Tommy Oliver on the 1990s children’s series “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,” has died. He was 49.
Justine Hunt, Frank’s manager, said in a statement Sunday that Frank had passed away. She did not provide the cause of death or time of death, but asked for “the privacy of his family and friends at this horrific time as we come to terms with the loss of such a wonderful human being.”
Walter Emmanuel Jones, the original Black Power Ranger who co-starred with Frank in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, wrote on Instagram that he couldn’t believe it. “My heart is saddened to have lost another member of our special family,” Jones wrote. Thuy Trang, who played the original Yellow Power Ranger, died in a car accident in 2001 at the age of 27.
Mighty Morphine Power Rangers, about five teenagers tasked with saving the earth from evil, debuted on Fox in 1993 and became a pop culture phenomenon. At the beginning of the first season, Frank’s Tommy Oliver was first seen as a villain who was brainwashed by the evil Rita Repulsa. But soon after, he was brought into the group as the Green Ranger and became one of the most popular characters on the show.
Though his role was not intended to be permanent, Frank was later brought back as the team’s White Ranger and leader. In all of the spinoff TV series, Frank’s Tommy Oliver also returned as other rangers, including Red Zeo Ranger, Red Turbo Ranger, and Black Dino Ranger. He also played it in the movies Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie and Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, and made a cameo in the 2017 reboot Power Rangers.
As a martial artist, Frank competed in several mixed martial arts fights in 2009 and 2010.
TMZ previously 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 to Tammie Frank and three from his first marriage to Shawna Frank.