Acting
Jan 22, 1943
Little Rock, Arkansas, USA
Gil Gerard
Acting
Biography
Gilbert C. Gerard (January 23, 1943 – December 16, 2025) was an American actor, known for his role as Captain William "Buck" Rogers in the 1979–81 television series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. Gerard was employed as an industrial chemist, and within a few years he became regional manager of the chemical company headed by governor Winthrop Rockefeller. Gerard's employers said they would appoint him as vice president if he undertook a master's degree, so he resigned rather than explain that he did not have a bachelor's degree. He then went to New York City where he studied drama by day and drove a taxicab at night. Gerard picked up a fare who showed an interest in the problems of unknown, unemployed actors. He told Gerard to report in a few days to the set of Love Story, which was being filmed on location in New York. When Gerard arrived on the Love Story set, he was hired as an extra. Later that day, he was singled out for a "bit" role, but his role was not included in the finished film. During the next few years, he did most of his acting in 400 television commercials, including a stint as spokesman for the Ford Motor Company. After small roles in Some of My Best Friends Are..., and Man on a Swing, Gerard gained a prominent role in the daytime soap opera, The Doctors. Gerard formed his own production company in partnership with a writer-producer, co-authored a screenplay called Hooch and filmed it as a starring vehicle for himself. With Hooch completed, he appeared in Ransom for Alice! and Universal's Airport '77. A guest appearance on Little House on the Prairie impressed producer-star Michael Landon, who cast him in the leading role in the 1978 TV movie Killing Stone. Gerard then landed his best-known role, as Captain William "Buck" Rogers in the TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century which ran from 1979-81, with the feature-length pilot episode being released theatrically some months prior to the first broadcast of the series. After this, he was featured in a number of other TV shows and movies, including starring roles in the 1982 TV movie Hear No Evil as Dragon, the short-lived series Sidekicks and E.A.R.T.H. Force. In 1992, Gerard presented the reality TV series Code 3, and for the remainder of the 1990s, Gerard made guest appearances on various TV shows, including Fish Police, Brotherly Love, The Big Easy, Days of Our Lives and Pacific Blue. In January 2007, Gerard was the subject of the one-hour documentary Action Hero Makeover on the Discovery Health Channel, which documented his year-long progress after undergoing life-saving mini-gastric bypass surgery in October 2005. According to the program, he had been struggling with his weight for 40 years, losing weight only to gain it back. By the time of the program's production, his weight had risen to over 350 pounds (159 kg). Within ten months he lost a total of 145 lb (66 kg). Gerard and his Buck Rogers co-star Erin Gray reunited in 2007 for the TV film Nuclear Hurricane, and also returned to the Buck Rogers universe by playing the characters' parents in the pilot episode of James Cawley's Buck Rogers Begins Internet video series in 2009. Gerard guest-starred as Admiral Jack Sheehan in "Kitumba", the January 1, 2014, episode of the fan web series Star Trek: Phase II. In 2015, Gerard voiced Megatronus in Transformers: Robots in Disguise.
Feature Films (36)
Capt. William "Buck" Rogers is a jovial space cowboy who is accidentally time-warped from 1987 to 2491. Earth is engaged in interplanetary war following a global holocaust, and Buck's piloting skills make him an ideal starfighter recruit for the Earth Defense Directorate.
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
Timmy Blair has the usual twelve-year-old’s share of problems: his father is too busy at work, his new stepmother loads him with chores, and school life is as difficult as ever. When a furry friend follows him home from school, Timmy is delighted. There’s only one problem. His new-found buddy is a 500 pound gorilla.
Mom, Can I Keep Her?
Flight 23 has crashed in the Bermuda Triangle after a hijacking gone wrong. Now the surviving passengers must brave panic, slow leaks, oxygen depletion, and more while attempting a daring plan, all while 200 feet underwater.
Airport '77
A young and cynical female journalist learns love may transcend trials and time as she discovers a story that will change her life forever. When war separates lovers on their wedding anniversary Feb. 14, 1944 at LA Union Train Station, Navy pilot Neil Thomas makes a promise he isn't sure he can keep - to return to the train station safe by their next anniversary. For sixty years Caroline Thomas keeps her promise by waiting at the train station until her missing in action husband can finally keep his with the "lost valentine." The message and meaning shows romance and love can be real; worth fighting, and maybe even dying for.
The Lost Valentine
Television & Series (12)
When the big woods of Wisconsin becomes a difficult spot for hunting, Charles Ingalls reluctantly decides to move his family, pioneering west. Their life on the farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 1870s and 1880s is full of adventure, tragedy, and triumph. Based on the books of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Little House on the Prairie
Hawaii Five-O is an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productions and Leonard Freeman. Set in Hawaii, the show originally aired for 12 seasons from 1968 to 1980, and continues in reruns. Jack Lord portrayed Detective Lieutenant Steve McGarrett, the head of a special state police task force which was based on an actual unit that existed under martial law in the 1940s. The theme music composed by Morton Stevens became especially popular. Many episodes would end with McGarrett instructing his subordinate to "Book 'em, Danno!", sometimes specifying a charge such as "murder one".
Hawaii Five-O
20th-century astronaut Buck Rogers awakens in the 25th century after a freak accident puts him in suspended animation for 500 years. Upon returning to Earth and discovering the planet is recovering from a nuclear war, Buck uses his combat skills and ingenuity to protect Earth and fight evil throughout the galaxy alongside starfighter pilot Colonel Wilma Deering and robot companion Twiki.
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
Baretta is an American detective television series which ran on ABC from 1975 to 1978. The show was a milder version of a successful 1973–74 ABC series, Toma, starring Tony Musante as chameleon-like, real-life New Jersey police officer David Toma. While popular, Toma received intense criticism at the time for its realistic and frequent depiction of police and criminal violence. When Musante left the series after a single season, the concept was retooled as Baretta, with Robert Blake in the title role.
