Jason David Frank, who played the Green Power Ranger in the 1990s children’s television series, has died at the age of 49.
Frank played the role of Tommy Oliver in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers for three years until 1996.
The show, about five teenagers tasked with saving the Earth from evil, debuted on the American Fox network in 1993 and has become a pop culture phenomenon.
Frank was originally set for only a 14-episode series, but proved so popular that he was hired as a full-time ranger.
Though he started out as the Green Ranger – and an evil adversary of the main gang – after his powers started to fade, he transformed and became the leader of the group, the White Ranger.
He ended up starring in more than 120 episodes.
Frank also appeared in a series of Power Rangers spin-off shows in 2018.
Justine Hunt, the actor’s manager, confirmed in a statement that Frank had died in Texas. She did not provide a cause of death or when he died, but did ask for privacy from his family and friends.
Away from the screen, Frank practiced martial arts and was an 8th Dan black belt in Shotokan karate.
Frankw was born in the city of Covina in California.
He married his first wife in the 1990s and they had two sons and a daughter. They divorced in 2001.
In 2003, he married his second wife, Tammie, and they have a daughter. He filed for divorce earlier this year.
As news of his death began to circulate, his costar Walter Jones — the original Black Ranger Zack — wrote on Instagram, “My heart is sad to lose another member of our special family.”
He added the hashtag “May the power protect you”, a reference to the show.
