XPost: rec.arts.tv   
   From: YourName@YourISP.com   
      
       Gil Gerard, 'Buck Rogers in the 25th Century' Star, Dies at 82   
       --------------------------------------------------------------   
       Gil Gerard, the American actor who starred as the titular hero in   
       the 1979 NBC sci-fi series "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century,"   
       died Tuesday after a battle with cancer. He was 82.   
      
       Gerard's death was confirmed by his wife, Janet, in a Facebook   
       post Tuesday evening.   
      
       "Early this morning Gil - my soulmate - lost his fight with a   
       rare and viciously aggressive form of cancer," read Janet's post.   
       "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 ever been enough. Hold the ones you   
       have tightly and love them fiercely."   
      
       Gerard also released his own statement on Facebook Tuesday night,   
       which he asked his wife to share after he died.   
      
       "My life has been an amazing journey. 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," read Gerard's   
       statement. "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. It's been a great ride, but   
       inevitably one that comes to a close as mine has. Don't waste   
       your time on anything that doesn't thrill you or bring you love.   
       See you out somewhere in the cosmos."   
      
       "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" ran for two seasons from 1979 to   
       1981. The show, based on the character created by Philip Francis   
       Nowlan in 1928, was first adapted as a made-for-TV movie, which   
       grossed $21 million in its 1979 theatrical debut. Universal and   
       NBC quickly began work on a weekly sci-fi series later that same   
       year. The film was split in half for a two-part series premiere.   
       "Buck Rogers" followed Gerard as Captain William "Buck" Rogers, a   
       20th-century astronaut who is frozen in space for 504 years and   
       wakes up in the year 2491.   
      
       Gerard's other TV credits include "Sidekicks," "Nightingales,"   
       "E.A.R.T.H. Force" and "Days of Our Lives." His more recent film   
       credits include "Space Captain and Callista," "The Nice Guys" and   
       "Blood Fare."   
      
       Gerard was born in 1943 in Little Rock, Ark. He appeared in   
       commercials and had small roles on several popular '70s TV shows   
       before getting his break with "Buck Rogers."   
      
      
      
      
      
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