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TV's Buck Rogers, Gil Gerard, dies at 82

Gil Gerard, who played television’s hunky sci-fi hero William “Buck” Rogers soon after the Star Wars franchise took hold in the late 1970s, has died. He was 82.

Gerard died Tuesday in hospice as a result of a rare, aggressive form of cancer, said his manager, Tina Presley Borek. His wife, Janet Gerard, posted a posthumous Facebook message he left behind for fans that read in part:

“Don’t waste your time on anything that doesn’t thrill you or bring you love. See you out somewhere in the cosmos.”

Gerard starred in NBC’s campy “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century,” which ran for two seasons from 1979 to 1981. A theatrical film based on the series also delighted youngsters and their parents alike. It was Rogers’ second turn on TV after a show in the 1950s, a radio series and a 1939 film serial.

The story was based on Philip Francis Nowlan’s serialized 1928 pulp novella “Armageddon 2419 A.D.” Nowlan’s character was named Anthony Rogers. The name was changed when the story began running in newspapers as a comic strip.

As the TV story goes, Rogers was a 20th century NASA pilot who was placed in frozen animation when his ship was hit by a meteor storm. He pops awake 500 years later in the year 2491. He gazes upon a futuristic, domed Earth with all its threats, including aliens, space pilots and the evil Draconians.

He had helpers: The robot sidekick Twiki and a beautiful space pilot Wilma Deering, played by Erin Gray.

A native of Little Rock, Arkansas, Gerard worked steadily in TV commercials. He was featured in a number of other TV shows and movies, including starring roles in the 1982 TV movie “Hear No Evil” as Dragon and the short-lived “Sidekicks” in 1986.

In 1992, he hosted the reality series “Code 3,” following firefighters responding to emergency calls around the U.S. There were many guest appearances in the 1990s, including on “Days of Our Lives.”

Gerard and Gray were together again in 2007 for the TV film “Nuclear Hurricane.” They also returned to the Buck Rogers universe as Rogers’ parents in the pilot episode of James Cawley’s “Buck Rogers Begins” internet video series in 2009.

Gerard spoke openly about addictions to drugs, alcohol and compulsive overeating. He was the subject of a one-hour documentary on the Discovery Health Channel, “Action Hero Makeover,” in 2007 after his weight ballooned to 350 pounds.

Gerard was married and divorced four times before Janet. He had a son, actor Gilbert Vincent Gerard, with model and actor Connie Sellecca. Their divorce included a bitter custody battle for “Gib,” who was born in 1981. 
 


(AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)
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