Michael Gray, the star of the 1970s live-action series Shazam!, has died, aged 75.
Gray died of natural causes on 16 October in Palm Desert, CA, his representatives confirmed to Variety on Thursday (22 October).
The actor is best known for his lead role as Billy Batson in the CBS series Shazam! which ran for three seasons between 1974 and 1976, and made Gray into a teen idol.
Gray’s character was a teenage boy who could transform into the superhero Captain Marvel (played by Jackson Bostwick and then John Davey) by speaking the magical word of the show’s title. Les Tremayne played his mentor.
Davey led tributes to the star, saying in a statement: “Mike was just a loving, sweet guy with a great sense of humor.
“He loved acting, loved doing the show and, in recent years, loved appearing at comic-cons. He really enjoyed meeting and chatting with the fans. Mike was a wonderful man – I don’t think he ever stopped smiling.”
Prior to that, the Chicago-born star got his start on TV when he was cast in NBC’s The Little People alongside Brian Keith and Shelley Fabares in 1972.
He also appeared as Marcia’s boyfriend Jeff in a 1973 episode of The Brady Bunch, as well as on shows including The Flying Nun and Marcus Welby, M.D.
In 1970, Gray had a small part in the ABC telefilm Run, Simon, Run with Burt Reynolds, and also appears in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and Myra Breckinridge.
It wasn’t until Shazam!, though, that Gray landed his breakout role. Speaking on a Comic-Con panel in 2012, he said: “I didn’t know the character or the story when I was initially cast, so I had to be a quick study – so it was fun and exhausting, challenging and thrilling, all at once.
“It didn’t matter that it was on Saturday morning or primetime – though the fact that it was one of the first few live-action shows on Saturday morning was exciting. It truly was a thrilling show to work.”
He also paid homage to his breakout role in 2023’s Shazam! Fury of the Gods, where he interacted with Zachary Levi’s Shazam in a nod to the original series.
In 2015 and 2019, Gray also lent his voice to a fictionalised version of himself in four episodes of the hit animated series Archer.
Gray is survived by Stacy Benon Gray, whom he married in 1994, along with his stepchildren Ryan Cooper and Laurel Cooper, and son-in-law Lee Barker.
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