I just saw that headline as well. Awful. Heartbreaking to think he was suffering silently when he always came across as so enthused about future projects and grateful for his time with Power Rangers. His final project, Legend of the White Dragon, will be out next year and he was excited about it. He has four children too. Just a heartbreaking loss.
Wow, shocking and fucking tragic. The first, idk, handful of Power Rangers seasons (and couple movies) were huge for me as a kid.
I think his wife filed for divorce this summer or something. Maybe he took it really hard… I don’t wanna speculate too much. But yeah so shitty…
My friend volunteered at a Con a few years ago and was assigned to him. She said "there was a family that wanted all their names on one photo that he autographed and he kinda reiterated “all on this one?” And the mom said something about the cost and he got up and grabbed a photo for each family member, signed them and just gave them to them. And some people couldn't afford anything but wanted to just say hi and he would always say “well let’s take a selfie” which cost money but he still did it free for his fans"
He signed a card for me without me even asking for one, and normally that costs money. Stand up dude.
Power Rangers has always been a huge thing in my life, I still watch it to this day and have been showing my son little by little lately, and JDF has always seemed like one of the most genuine and enthusiastic dudes. This one really hurts.
For anyone interested in spending a few minutes with it, I put together a quick list of episodes that feature him and are fun. Highly recommend Another Song And Dance, where Tommy gets placed under a spell where he can only sing instead of speak. And JDF couldn’t sing to save his life. Entirely absurd. All of these are on YouTube (the brand has moved everything off Netflix to YouTube) MMPR - Green With Evil saga MMPR - Green No More Zeo - Another Song And Dance Zeo - Where In The World Is Zeo Ranger 5? Zeo - King For A Day Dino Thunder - Fighting Spirit Wild Force - Forever Red (anniversary episode with almost all the red rangers, great for nostalgia) Ninja Steel - Dimensions In Danger There’s also Soul of the Dragon, basically Old Man Tommy comic
This is a great list! Another Song and Dance is so much fun. Looking forward to diving further into these all with my 3 year old this week.
Feel free to hit me up for any other episode recs! I did a complete series rewatch during the early days of the pandemic so it’s all super fresh
I remember being so hyped at the end of Return of an Old Friend part one when they’re in the command center like “What do we do now? Goldar has all the power coins” and Jason says “Not all of them. We still have one.” I remember sitting there like awwwwwww yeeeeeaaaaaaah as you then just see Tommy’s legs walking into the school and you already know it’s him and then it freezes on his face after he says “where is everybody?” Just everything about the entire Green Ranger arc was so good. They really knew how to rope you in with those “To Be Continued” cliffhangers back then.
I honestly never gave a shit about the power rangers because I came from the voltron age and was like "the fuck are these guys doin" but he lived out here in my community north of Houston and had two karate or martials arts programs that were pretty popular. he was a much-loved member of our town and though I don't have any personal ties through those things, I know our community is heart broken over it, not to mention the students at his academies. horribly sad all the way around.
An absolute jaw-dropper, and the song that should have won the Oscar for Fame, imo. Edit: wish I could find a clip of just the scene from the movie, without all the edited-in highlights.