'Buck Rogers In The 25th Century' Star Gil Gerard Has Passed Away At The Age Of 82
Image Source: Scripps News
On December 16th, 2025, actor Gil Gerard sadly passed at age 82. He had these final words for fans before he left this world. “My life has been an amazing journey. 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.”
Gil Gerard was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1943, but he dropped out of college and moved to New York to study drama in 1960. It took ten years to get his ‘break’, when he was cast as an extra in Oscar and Grammy-nominated Love Story (1970). Just three years later, he landed a recurring role in the television serial The Doctors. Gerard played Dr Alan Stewart for over 300 episodes.
In 1977, the world caught Star Wars fever. Universal wanted their own sci-fi franchise to rival Lucasfilm, so they adapted an old 1950s television series (that had originally been a Philip Francis Nowlan comic strip). Buck Rogers was originally supposed to be younger than Gerard’s face card (25 to Gerard’s 35), but his audition was so impressive that production rewrote the character so they could cast him.
In 2007, he bravely took part in the Discovery Channel’s Action Hero Makeover. The show chronicled his mini gastric-bypass surgery. Gerard spoke candidly on camera about his struggles with his weight and type 2 diabetes. Gerard had issues with many addictions, including binge eating, which plagued him for a large part of his life.
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In December of this year, Gil Gerard contracted an aggressive form of cancer that gave him and his family very little warning before the end. The news was announced by his wife, Janet.
“From the moment when we knew something was wrong to his death this morning was only days. No matter how many years I got to spend with him it would have never been enough. Hold the ones you have tightly and love them fiercely,”
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Source(s): Metro, Radio Times, Facebook, Wikipedia, IMDb
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