‘Buck Rogers’ Actor Dies of ‘Viciously Aggressive’ Form of Cancer: Gil Gerard Was 82

Gil Gerard, hero of beloved ’80s hit Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, died Tuesday morning after a battle with cancer. He was 82.

The news was announced on Facebook Tuesday by his wife, Janet Gerard. “Early this morning Gil – my soulmate – lost his fight with a rare and viciously aggressive form of cancer,” she wrote. “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,” she continued. “Hold the ones you have tightly and love them fiercely.”

Janet also shared a message from her husband on his personal Facebook page. “My life has been an amazing journey,” Gil began. “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.”

“My journey has taken me from Arkansas to New York to Los Angeles, and finally, to my home in North Georgia with my amazing wife, Janet, of 18 years,” the former action hero wrote. “It’s been a great ride, but inevitably one that comes to a close as mine has.”

He concluded with a bit of advice, writing, “Don’t waste your time on anything that doesn’t thrill you or bring you love. See you out somewhere in the cosmos.”

Gil had already appeared in the 1977 films Airport ’77 and Hooch when he was approached to star in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, which aired for two seasons from 1979 to 1981.

Based on the comic strip character who was previously featured in a 1939 movie serial starring Buster Crabbe, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century followed Gil as Capt. William Anthony “Buck” Rogers, a NASA/U.S. Air Force pilot who gets accidentally frozen in his ship in 1987 before being discovered in the year 2491 following a nuclear war. Also starring in the show, which also released its feature-length pilot episode as a theatrical film, were Erin Gray as Col. Wilma Deering and Felix Silla as the robot Twiki, who was voiced by Mel Blanc.

“I thought the character had a sense of reality about him,” Gil said in a 2017 interview with Tulsa World. “The sense of humor I liked very much and his humanity, I liked. I thought it was kind of cool. He wasn’t a stiff kind of a guy. He was a guy who could solve problems on his feet, and he wasn’t a superhero.”

Gil went on to star in the 1982 telefilm Help Wanted: Male, and appeared from 1986 to 1987 in the ABC series Sidekicks. His other credits include The Doctors, Man on a Swing, E.A.R.T.H. Force, The Nice Guys and Days of Our Lives.