Gil Gérard, American actor very popular in the 1980s for his small and big screen role as the ingenious science fiction hero Buck Rogers, He died at the age of 82.
Gérard lived in Georgia and died last Tuesday of complications from “a rare and extremely aggressive type of cancer”, his wife, Janet, announced in a Facebook post.
The actor rose to fame as the new incarnation of Buck Rogers, the famous space adventurer created by Philip Francis Nowlan in some 1929 comic strips. Rogers’ popularity was so great that it inspired numerous imitations, the most successful of which was Flash Gordon (his actor, Buster Crabbe, also played Rogers in a 1939 series), in turn an inspiration decades later Star Wars.
Ironically, it is the success of the first film in the saga of George Lucas, released in 1977, which prompted the revival of the character of Buck Rogers in the new television series in which Gérard would star: Buck Rogers, Adventures in the 25th Century, whose pilot episode was released in theaters with the title Buck Rogers. The space adventurer (1979).
The series of Buck Rogers It aired for two seasons and Yesand they recorded a total of 32 episodes until April 1981, before being canceled.
Gil Gerard beyond Buck Rogers
Before becoming Buck Rogers, Gérard played one of the main characters in the successful disaster film in 1977. Airport 77 and the same year, he played in the comedy Schnapps, set in Appalachia, where it was still illegal to moonlight, before leading the cast of Buck Rogers. The space adventurer (1979).
Gérard has also starred in a number of television films, including the very popular Help wanted: Male (1982), with Suzanne Pleshette, and played a single police officer who teaches martial arts to a young man Ernie Reyes Jr. in the series Companions (companions) (1986-87).
He also appeared in 1990s series like Action Group, Days of Our Lives, Dear Detective, Pacific Blue and, years later, he made a small appearance in the stellar film Star Trek: New Journeys (2013).
His last important role in the hundred was an intervention in Two good guys (2016), action comedy Shane Black with Ryan Gosling And Russell Crowe.
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