Michael Gray, who starred as Billy Batson on the 1970s Saturday morning show “Shazam!,” died of natural causes on Oct. 16 in Palm Desert, California. He was 75.
A family spokesperson announced Gray’s death, according to The Hollywood Reporter. His publicist also confirmed the news to TMZ.
What happened: Michael Gray’s death confirmed
Gray’s breakout role came on “Shazam!,” the live-action CBS series that ran for three seasons from 1974 to 1976. He played Billy Batson, a teenager who transforms into the superhero Captain Marvel by shouting the word “shazam.” Jackson Bostwick played Captain Marvel first, and John Davey took over later.
The show’s early special effects weren’t always kind to its star. “I remember when we were experimenting with the change from Billy to Captain Marvel, using a sort of flash device, and ‘poof!’ — the smoke would clear, and I was a little singed,” Gray told Comic Book Resources in 2012. “They changed that real quick. That definitely didn’t work.”
He also didn’t know the character when he landed the part. “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 2012 Comic-Con panel.
That kind of fame came with a price. Gray became a fixture on the cover of Tiger Beat, and it wasn’t always fun. “They wanted me to be the next David Cassidy. I was on the front cover of Tiger Beat often, and it worked. Back then, when the show was running and all the fan magazine coverage was going on, I couldn’t leave my house,” he said.
Before “Shazam!”
Gray was born in Chicago on Sept. 2, 1951. He grew up in Miami Beach, Florida, and later moved to Los Angeles to study acting at the Pasadena Playhouse. His first series role came in 1972 as Ronnie on the NBC sitcom “The Little People,” which starred Brian Keith and Shelley Fabares. He also turned up on “The Brady Bunch” as Jeff, one of Marcia Brady’s boyfriends.
Background: A career beyond acting
Gray felt typecast after “Shazam!” and eventually walked away from Hollywood. He taught children’s theater, worked in men’s fashion and ran a flower shop in West Hollywood with his wife, Stacy Benon Gray.
The show’s 2012 DVD release brought him back into the spotlight. Gray started working the convention circuit and found out just how much the series had meant to fans. “I meet people [every day] who say, ‘You have no idea what you did for me as a child.’ ‘You helped me get through life.’ ‘You made me the better man, or woman, that I am today,’” he told Fanboy Planet in 2012.
That second wind led to voice work. Gray voiced “TV’s Michael Gray,” a childhood hero of Sterling Archer, in four episodes of the animated comedy “Archer” between 2015 and 2019. He also played Will E. Bee in the independent “Surge of Power” film series, starting with 2016’s “Surge of Power: Revenge of the Sequel,” and appeared on AMC’s “Comic Book Men.”
What it means for fans of “Shazam!”
Gray’s connection to the franchise reached the big screen in 2023. He made a cameo in “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” the 2023 feature film, cheering on Zachary Levi’s Captain Marvel in a nod to the original series. The moment tied the modern films straight back to the character’s television roots.
Davey, his former co-star, remembered Gray as “a loving, sweet guy with a great sense of humor” who enjoyed meeting fans at comic cons in recent years.
What’s next
Gray is survived by his wife, Stacy Benon Gray, whom he married in 1994; his stepchildren, Ryan Cooper and Laurel Cooper; and his son-in-law, Lee Barker. No memorial or service details have been announced.
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