Actor, sumo wrestler, and fighter Taylor Wily has died at his home in Hawaii at the age of 56.
No cause of death has been revealed for the six-foot-two, 434-pound actor.
The news of his passing was confirmed by Hawaiian station KITV-TV.
Hawaii Five-0 executive producer Peter M. Lenkov lamented the loss on Instagram, writing, “I am devastated. Heartbroken. I’ll post some detailed feelings later. Just too hard right now.”
The mountainous man initially became one of the first American sumo wrestlers in the 1980s and compiled a record of 57-27-14 over two seasons of wrestling.
Wily later competed as one of the fighters in the very first UFC event in November of 1993, though he lost his bout to Gerard Gordeau.
He had an uncredited role in a 1982 episode of the original Magnum, P.I., but his TV career began picking up speed in the late 2000s when in 2008 he got his breakout role as Kemo in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
But it was in 2010 he landed his signature role as Kamekona in the re-boot of Hawaii Five-0, in which he appeared in 171 episodes until the series ended in 2020.
He also appeared on seven episodes of the re-booted Magnum P.I., reprising his role as Kamekona.
The Honolulu-born Wily was a big-hearted and passionate fellow. Back in 2020 when the pandemic began, he posted an inspirational video urging everyone to come together in this “unpredictable times.”
From Peter Lenkov’s Instagram Story. PSA from Taylor Wily #TaylorWily #H50 pic.twitter.com/k4UhIHVrJS
— erns (@ernsand2) March 22, 2020
Wily is survived by his wife Halona and their two children.
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