The cause of death for ALF star Benji Gregory has been made official, according to the New York Post. The medical examiner in Maricopa County, Arizona determined Gregory died from “environmental heat exposure in the setting of hepatic cirrhosis” and his death was ruled an accident. His service dog also died in the heat.
The actor was reported dead on June 13 at 46 after being found unresponsive in his car in the parking lot of a Chase Bank in Peoria. His sister confirmed his death at the time in a post on Facebook.
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“It is with a heavy heart my family has suffered a loss way too early. Ben was a great Son, Brother and Uncle. He was fun to be around and made us laugh quite often. Still, going through his things,I find myself laughing at little videos or notes of his, in between crying,” she wrote. “My brother Ben was found in his car, along with his beloved service dog Hans, deceased on June 13. We believe he went there the evening of the 12th to deposit some residuals. (Found in his car) and never got out of the car to do so. He fell asleep and died from vehicular heatstroke.”
His sister Rebecca spoke with TMZ after his death that her brother struggled with depression, bipolar disorder and a sleeping disorder. He would be kept up for days at a time. Temperatures had reached a high of 107 on the day Gregory was discovered deceased.
Gregory played Brian Tanner for the entire run of ALF on NBC, from 1986 until 1990. He was eight when the show premiered and had plenty of roles throughout television in the ’80s, including appearances on The A-Team, Punky Brewster, and The Twilight Zone. He left acting in 2003, enlisting in the Navy and getting discharged in 2005.
