News Gil Gerard (1943-2025)

[Starkers]

I have a recall of it being shown one Saturday night and followed by On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Pure tv heaven for my young self (and my current old self, truth be told), even if I was very puzzled by the fact of a James Bond who was neither Connery nor Moore.

I remember the first time I saw OHMSS and being similarly confused!

I still remember that Saturday teatime slot. The A-Team and Airwolf were in it also if I remember right. Weirdly I think BSG was on a Sunday? Actually the more I think about it was Airworlf on a Friday? The A-Team was definitely Saturday teatime though.

 

[Candleicious Ghost]

I remember the first time I saw OHMSS and being similarly confused!

I still remember that Saturday teatime slot. The A-Team and Airwolf were in it also if I remember right. Weirdly I think BSG was on a Sunday? Actually the more I think about it was Airworlf on a Friday? The A-Team was definitely Saturday teatime though.

Recently I started watching JAG. How did I miss this series? They stared from the very first episode and lots of military porn with planes and ships and stuff.

Oddly JAG was made by the same people that made Airwolf. I have tried many times over the years to watch that show again but it's like Knight Rider I just can't finish a season without breaks. Tried again this year and barely finished season 1

Oddly I find myself wanting to find copies of JAG and give that a run

 

[Captaindemotion]

I remember the first time I saw OHMSS and being similarly confused!

I still remember that Saturday teatime slot. The A-Team and Airwolf were in it also if I remember right. Weirdly I think BSG was on a Sunday? Actually the more I think about it was Airworlf on a Friday? The A-Team was definitely Saturday teatime though.

I thought this predated the A-Team by a few years, but, yes that show did air on a Saturday too. Airwolf on Friday sounds right.

I don’t really remember when BSG aired - I don’t think I saw it on first airing, caught it on repeat showings. I do recall seeing the Pegasus storyline aired as a tv movie on a Sunday, however, so you might be right.

 

[The Realist]

I'll be honest it isn't something I'd been aware of, a little before my time and not sure if it aired in the UK anyway but I can see it was a success so that's three series. This seemed to be more of an ensemble though whereas the others he was undisputedly the star of.

You’re right that it was an ensemble. To the extent it had a lead, it was probably Barbara Stanwyck as the Barkley clan matriarch, Victoria. But the series narrative really begins with the arrival of Majors’s character, Heath, into the Barkley family, which occurs in the first episode. He’s the heretofore unknown adult son of Victoria’s late husband by another woman (I was surprised they actually used the word “bastard” in a 1960s American TV show, but here it’s a literal signifier, not an epithet). So he’s kind of the catalyst for a big change in the family, and central to many of the storylines. Majors has a lot of presence and brooding charisma here; I actually found his acting far better on BV than in The Six Million Dollar Man, where he had less meaty drama to work with and seemed to consider a wink a sufficient performance sometimes.

But this is all obviously very OT to Gil Gerard. I just rarely find an opening to talk about one of my favorite old shows, so apologies.

 

[Candleicious Ghost]

Sorry to be a bit OT but this thread reminded me of another show we watched back then Grizzly Adams. I just remember it had a really nice theme song

 

[Marc]

It was Saturday teatimes here in the UK and I remember a big deal was made when they aired the TV-movie version of Planet of the Slave Girls as the series premier (we never saw either version of the pilot until sometime later).

In Australia it had a Monday night 7:30 timeslot and like the U.K Suspension wasn't shown but no idea/no recollection of what episode was shown first.

I eventually saw it when the show moved to cable tv but that was 20 years later.

 

[Marc]

I thought this predated the A-Team by a few years, but, yes that show did air on a Saturday too. Airwolf on Friday sounds right.

I don’t really remember when BSG aired - I don’t think I saw it on first airing, caught it on repeat showings. I do recall seeing the Pegasus storyline aired as a tv movie on a Sunday, however, so you might be right.

For Australia is was mid 1980 on a Thursday night.

Unfortunately I was in the Cubs at time and that was also a Thursday night at the same time.

 

[Shawnster]

Gil Gerard, an actor best known for his role as Buck Rogers in the science-fiction television show “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century,” died on Tuesday in hospice care in Georgia. He was 82.

His death, from cancer, was announced in a social media post by his wife, Janet Gerard.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/arts/gil-gerard-buck-rogers-dead.html

 

[Starkers]

There's already a thread on this

News - Gil Gerard (1943-2025)

Gil Gerard, the American actor who starred as the titular hero in the 1979 NBC sci-fi series “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century,” died Tuesday after a battle with cancer. He was 82. Gerard’s death was confirmed by his wife, Janet, in a Facebook post Tuesday evening. “Early this morning Gil – my...

www.trekbbs.com

 

[Shawnster]

Thanks

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

Before BUCK came along, he was a relatively anonymous supporting player in AIRPORT '77, caught in a love triangle between Lee Grant and Christopher Lee. The latter two were married. Lee's character was quite antagonistic to everybody. When it was all over, only Gil escaped from the submerged plane.

RIP

 

[Set Harth]

beedy beedy beedy

 

[Aragorn]

Absolutely, I bet there are thousands of actors who would kill for Gerrard's career.

It's the way people sneer at Shatner, but hell, a star in three major tv series not to mention all the hundreds of other film and tv appearances over the years.

I know an actor who struggles to book anything, and when he does it's usually as a glorified extra so he doesn't even know if he'll make the final cut. I think his biggest roles have been in true crime recreations. And this is the norm for most actors.

A while back there was that actor who got made fun of for working at a grocery store because why should he be doing that when he had been on The Cosby Show.... which was 30 years ago!

 

[Noname Given]

I know an actor who struggles to book anything, and when he does it's usually as a glorified extra so he doesn't even know if he'll make the final cut. I think his biggest roles have been in true crime recreations. And this is the norm for most actors.

A while back there was that actor who got made fun of for working at a grocery store because why should he be doing that when he had been on The Cosby Show.... which was 30 years ago!

Hell, Gary Coleman (of Different Strokes fame) worked as a Security Gaurd for a Department store (at their standard wage) for a few years before he passed away.
(His parents as his 'management' - squandered all the money he earned from those years before he was 18.)

 

[Aragorn]

Hell, Gary Coleman (of Different Strokes fame) work as a Security Gaurd for a Department store (at their standard wage) for a few years before he passed away.
(His parents as his 'management' - squandered all the money he earned from those years before he was 18.)

Acting is an impossibly difficult profession. Margot Robbie is 1 of 1. Denzel Washington is 1 of 1. They're the exception and a rare exception. You're basically unemployed until your next role. Dick Wolf cast Katee Sackhoff on an episode of Law & Order as a favor to her because she hadn't worked in a while and was going to lose her insurance.

People make fun of David Caruso for leaving NYPD Blue so early in its run to pursue a movie career that lasted two terrible movies. But in the end he probably made more money on CSI: Miami than he would've in movies. Yeah, the scripts are bad and you're slumming it, but work is work and it made him one of the highest paid actors on TV.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

Rest in peace Mr. Gerard. Buck was cool.

 

[Ghost]

Sad to hear about his passing.
I was looking up Buck Rogers on Facebook when I learned about it.
I remember watching the show on Dutch television and later on BBC2. As I was into Star Wars at the time this show really appealed to me. I still want a model of the Thunderfighter.

Thanks for the memories Mr Gerard.

 

[Aragorn]

Other than Buck Rogers, the only other thing I saw him in was Sidekicks.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

The meat and potatoes of his career were TV movies of the week, so I never saw any of those.

Looks like CBS gave him a lead role in something called E.A.R.T.H. Force which was pulled after three episodes.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Dar70]

Other than Buck Rogers, the only other thing I saw him in was Sidekicks.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

The meat and potatoes of his career were TV movies of the week, so I never saw any of those.

Looks like CBS gave him a lead role in something called E.A.R.T.H. Force which was pulled after three episodes.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

I remember Earth Force. I liked it...

 

[Dar70]

The message from him and his wife is lovely. He was never a big star but for a generation like me he will always be remembered and immediately identifiable for Buck and we will always think of the twinkly grin and the theme music. FWIW also, I saw this tweet from a local (to me) former tv presenter and producer:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

I was thinking about his message again today. Very humble guy. He loved his fans and this final message to his fans was just beautiful. You don't see many A list actors or more successful actors connecting with fans on this level before they pass. Really wish I would have been able to meet him. Sadly he never got out to my neck of the woods.