Max Wright, an actor who relished his time onstage but was best known for his role as a stern father who forms an unlikely friendship with a furry extraterrestrial on the offbeat NBC sitcom “ALF,” died on June 26 at the Lillian Booth Actors Home of the Actors Fund in Englewood, N.J. He was 75.

His daughter, Daisy Wright, said the cause was complications of cancer.

On “ALF” (the initials stood for Alien Life Form), a back-talking, pointy-eared alien from the planet Melmac crash-lands at the house of Willie Tanner, Mr. Wright’s character. Before Alf’s arrival, Tanner had lived a rather mundane life in a quiet suburban household. His children persuade him to let Alf stay, but the creature’s presence causes constant conflict. Tanner prefers predictability; Alf frequently disrupts it. Though Tanner rarely approves of Alf’s mischievous tendencies, the two eventually become friends.