Gilbert Cyril Gerard, the actor whose face became synonymous with futuristic adventure and Saturday-night imagination, has died at the age of 82. A man whose career spanned soaps, the silver screen, countless commercials, and the iconic role of Captain William “Buck” Rogers, he passed away on December 16, 2025, after a brave battle with a rare and aggressive form of cancer, his wife Janet announced. “Gil—my soulmate—lost his fight early this morning,” she wrote, urging others to “hold the ones you have tightly and love them fiercely” in tribute to a life that connected with generations of fans.
By Allan R. Ellenberger
Gerard was born on January 23, 1943, in Little Rock, Arkansas, the third and youngest son of Ruth (née Hooker), a college instructor, and Charles Gerard, a salesman. Gerard attended Little Rock Catholic High School for Boys, where he was the leading man in an all-boys production of The Music Man. During high school, Gerard worked various jobs, including delivering Western Union telegrams and pumping gas. After spending one year at the University of Central Arkansas, Gerard left school to pursue a career in acting.
Gerard then moved to New York City as a young adult, where he studied acting during the day and drove a taxi at night. (This would later become an anecdote in his acting mythology.) On one of these late-night shifts, a fare gave him directions to the set of Love Story, then filming in New York, where he served as an extra in a crowd scene. This led to numerous television commercials, including over 400 spots and spokesman for the Ford Motor Company. He then appeared on The Doctors for two seasons, and guest starred on Little House on the Prairie, Hawaii Five-O and others.
But perhaps no role would make him as well known to the public as that of Captain William "Buck" Rogers. Gerard was chosen to play the title character in the NBC space saga Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, which premiered in 1979. The Buck Rogers series is an adaptation of the 1929 science fiction comic strip of the same name by Philip Francis Nowlan. The show, presented as both a theatrically-released feature and later, as a television series that aired from 1979 to 1981, follows Gerard's character, a NASA pilot who becomes caught up in events far in the future when he is shot through time, after being put in suspended animation in a space capsule to ensure his survival of the destruction of Earth. Rogers goes on to find himself in a world where he is needed as a hero. Buck Rogers was a hit with science fiction, adventure, and episodic television enthusiasts during a period when space opera was a popular genre on television. He was joined in the show by Erin Gray and Tim O'Connor, and the three became known for their combination of cockiness, humor, and all-American charm.
Gerard’s relationship with the role was candid and thoughtful. In later interviews he admitted initial hesitation about taking a part he feared might feel “campy,” recalling the pop infamy that had met Adam West’s Batman. Yet he grew to appreciate Buck Rogers for balancing humor with heart—an action hero who solved problems with ingenuity rather than invulnerability. The show, though limited to two seasons, left a legacy that rippled through decades of genre storytelling.
In between and outside of Buck Rogers, Gerard found work in film and television. He made appearances in Airport '77, Hooch (which he co-wrote and starred in), and later The Nice Guys (2016), among other films. He reprised the Buck characters in a 2007 made-for-TV reunion film, Nuclear Hurricane, as well as the pilot to a 2009 web series (both with Gray) that cast the two actors as the parents of the characters they played on the Buck show. He made a guest appearance in 2014 in an episode of Star Trek: Phase II as Admiral Jack Sheehan and provided voice work for Transformers: Robots in Disguise in 2015. His last credited screen appearance was in the 2019 film Space Captain and Callista.
Gerard’s personal life, like many Hollywood narratives, was marked by ambition, love, turmoil, and resilience. He married five times, including a high-profile union with actress Connie Sellecca in 1979 that produced a son, Gilbert Vincent “Gib” Gerard, in 1981. Their marriage, lasting until 1987, was followed by other relationships before his final and lasting marriage to Janet, who survived him. Throughout his life he was candid about his struggles with addiction, weight, and the pressure of fame—battles he confronted with honesty and often with characteristic humor.
Gil Gerard's life was a mix of the mundane and the famous, the unimportant roles and the indelible images. What made him so memorable was Gerard the man, the everyday person that could also be the hero, who could reveal his flaws and say he did not always know the answer. Gerard died December 16, 2025, after a brief, courageous fight with cancer. The response by his fans was profound. They thanked him for the example he had given of what a hero could be. Buck Rogers was a 25th century hero, but Gil Gerard belonged to today through his openness, his bravery in his work and his simple humanity.
He will be remembered by his family, his friends, his fans, and by those millions of viewers who, for a brief time in their lives, enjoyed his adventures as he kept the galaxy (or at least the TV viewing audience) safe. Gil Gerard's mission is over, but his legacy as one of the good guys lives on.
Readers are invited to share their memories, reflections, and tributes to Gil Gerard and the impact his work had on their lives in the comments below.
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