Goodbye ‘Buck Rogers’
Actor Gil Gerard poses in Los Angeles on July 16, 1990. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, file)
Gil Gerard, the actor best known for bringing television’s sci-fi hero William “Buck” Rogers to life in the wake of Star Wars’ late-1970s popularity, has passed away at the age of 82. Gerard died Tuesday in hospice from a rare and aggressive form of cancer, his manager Tina Presley Borek told the Associated Press.
His wife, Janet Gerard, shared a posthumous message he left for fans on Facebook: “Don’t waste your time on anything that doesn’t thrill you or bring you love. See you out somewhere in the cosmos.”
Gerard became a household name starring in NBC’s Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, a campy adventure series that ran for two seasons from 1979 to 1981. The show also inspired a theatrical film that charmed children and parents alike.
Based on Philip Francis Nowlan’s 1928 serialized pulp novella Armageddon 2419 AD, the story followed Rogers, a 20th-century NASA pilot frozen in suspended animation after a meteor storm, who awakens 500 years later in 2491. In a domed, futuristic Earth filled with threats like aliens and the sinister Draconians, Rogers relied on allies including the robot sidekick Twiki and the daring space pilot Wilma Deering, played by Erin Gray.
A native of Little Rock, Arkansas, Gerard began his career in television commercials before moving on to a variety of TV shows and movies. He starred in the 1982 TV movie Hear No Evil, appeared in the 1986 series Sidekicks, and hosted the 1992 reality series Code 3, which followed firefighters responding to emergencies across the U.S. Gerard also made numerous guest appearances in the 1990s, including on Days of Our Lives. He reunited with Erin Gray in the 2007 TV film Nuclear Hurricane and returned to the Buck Rogers universe in 2009, playing Rogers’ father in the pilot of James Cawley’s internet series Buck Rogers Begins.
Gerard was candid about his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction and compulsive overeating. In 2007, he was featured in the documentary Action Hero Makeover after his weight rose to 350 pounds. Gerard was married and divorced four times before his marriage to Janet. He had a son, actor Gilbert Vincent Gerard, with model and actress Connie Sellecca; their divorce involved a contentious custody battle, with Sellecca granted primary custody of Gilbert, born in 1981.
Reflecting on his life, Gerard wrote in the Facebook post shared after his death: “The opportunities I’ve had, the people I’ve met, and the love I have given and received have made my 82 years on the planet deeply satisfying. It’s been a great ride, but inevitably one that comes to a close as mine has.”
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