Michael Gray, star of the 1970s CBS live-action series Shazam! died of natural causes on Friday, October 16 in Palm Desert, CA, his rep confirmed to Deadline. He was 75.
One of Gray’s early television roles came in 1972 when he was cast in NBC’s The Little People, alongside Brian Keith and Shelly Fabares. But his big break came a couple years later when he landed the role of Billy Batson in the Saturday morning live-action show Shazam!
Gray’s Billy Batson was a teenage boy who could transform into the superhero Captain Marvel by speaking the magic word “Shazam!” With his guardian “Mentor” (Les Tremayne), Billy traveled the country in a 1973 Dodge Open Road motorhome, looking for injustices to resolve. The role originally was played by Jackson Bostwick and later by John Davey.
“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,” Gray said during a Comic-Con panel in 2012. “It didn’t matter that it was on Saturday morning or prime time – 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.”
Shazam! aired on CBS from 1974-1976.
During the ’70s Gray also became a teen idol, frequently appearing on the covers of Tiger Beat and other popular teen magazines.
His early career also included guest roles in primetime series such as The Brady Bunch (as Marcia’s boyfriend in a 1973 episode), Dynasty, Marcus Welby, M.D., Room 222 and The Flying Nun. He also played Burt Reynolds’ younger brother in the TV movie Run, Simon, Run, and appeared in the 1970 films Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and Myra Breckinridge.
His more recent credits include a four-episode arc on the FX comedy Archer as the voice of one of Sterling Archer’s boyhood idols, portraying “TV’s Michael Gray.” He also appeared in the Surge of Power film franchise, on AMC’s Comic Book Men, and had a fun cameo in Shazam! Fury of the Gods, where he interacted with Zachary Levi’s Captain Marvel in a wink to the original series.
Gray is survived by his wife Stacy Benon Gray, whom he married in 1994, his stepchildren Ryan Cooper and Laurel Cooper and son-in-law Lee Barker.