Wings Hauser, a longtime actor whose credits included the worlds of soap operas, action flicks, and even music, died March 15 at 77.
His wife Cali wrote on Facebook late Wednesday, “Movie icon Wings Hauser took flight in the arms of his film & music partner, Cali Lili Hauser at their studio this weekend.”
Hauser was born December 12, 1947, in L.A. to writer Dwight Hauser and his wife Geraldine. The elder Hauser was blacklisted in the McCarthy Era.
Wings made his film debut in “First to Fight” (1967), but gravitated more to music for the first several years of his performing career, releasing a 1975 album under the name Wings Livinryte.
From late 1977 until 1981, he played Greg Foster on the soap “The Young and the Restless,” a role to which he returned in 2010 for three episodes.
Some of his feature films included “Vice Squad” (1982), “Homework” (1982), “Hear No Evil” (1982), “Deadly Force” (1983), “Mutant” (1984), the acclaimed Norman Jewison drama “A Soldier’s Story” (1984), “Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling” (1986), “The Siege of Firebase Gloria” (1989), “Pale Blood” (1990), “Beastmaster 2” (1991), “Exiled in America” (1992), “Watchers 3” (1994), “Tales from the Hood” (1995), “Original Gangstas” (1996), “Avenging Angel” (2007), and “Rubber” (2010).
Often used in action films, he excelled in “Tough Guys Don’t Dance” (1987), earning an Independent Spirit Award nomination for his supporting work in the film. He was also the writer of the story for “Uncommon Valor,” a war drama that was a big box-office success in 1983.
Married and divorced three times, he is survived by his fourth wife, Cali Lili Hauser, of more than 20 years; by his daughter Bright Hauser, from his first marriage; and by his son Cole Hauser (“Yellowstone”), from his second marriage.