Actor Gil Gerard, who starred in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, died on Tuesday, December 16, 2025. His wife, Janet, announced his passing on Facebook, stating that he died from “a rare and viciously aggressive form of cancer. He was 82 years old.

Based on the Buck Rogers comic strip, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century starred Gerard as an astronaut from the 1980s who spent 500 years in suspended animation. When he awakens in the 25th century, Buck adapts to the new version of his world, explores deep space, and becomes Earth’s number one hero.

Gerard was born on January 23, 1943, in Little Rock, Arkansas. He spent a few years studying at the Arkansas State Teacher College, before moving to New York in 1969 to study acting at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. He appeared in over 400 commercials before starring as Dr. Alan Stewart in The Doctors TV series from 1973 to ’76.

He was in Airport ’77, Hooch, and did episodes of Little House on the Prairie and Hawaii Five-O. Gerard debuted as Buck Rogers in the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century movie that was released in early 1979. The TV show began a few months later, and ran for two seasons through 1981. After that, he was in Help Wanted: Male, starred in the Sidekicks TV show, and he produced the Broadway musical, Amen Corner.

Gerard was in episodes of Nightingales and E.A.R.T.H. Force, played Major Dodd in Days of Our Lives, and was in the TV movie, Air Rage. He was the subject of the Action Hero Makeover documentary about his gastric bypass surgery in 2007. He was in Dire Wolf, episodes of Star Trek Phase II and Drop Dead Diva, voiced Megatronus in Transformers: Robots in Disguise, he was in The Nice Guys, and his final role was in Space Captain and Callista in 2019.