Another touchstone figure from my youth has passed away.
Gil Gerard, the first Buck Rogers I was exposed to, died at 82 today.
Gerard isn't what you'd call a 'household name' but in my life, he is up there with Adam West and Lou Ferrigno in the pantheon of actors who were in tv shows that shaped the fan I would grow into.
Though it only ran for two seasons, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century was a childhood favourite and something that stuck with me into my adult years. The space vampire episode scared the tar out of me back then!
Gerard had this to say in a 2010 interview about his involvement with the show:
"I received the opportunity and turned it down three times. Finally, my agent told me to read the script. I read it, and it was pretty great. So, I decided to do it," Gerard shared about how he came to take on the role during an interview from 2010. "I turned it down because I didn't want to do a cartoon character. I have seen the old Batman series and didn't want to that type of show. "Buck Rogers" was based on a cartoon. I thought that Buck had a great sense of humanity and a great sense of humor. That is what attracted me to the role."
When I was writing my recent release, The Metropolis of Mongo and the short story The Mongo Machine, Gerard's voice was something I was very aware of as I wrote my version of Buck Rogers. I'd like to hope that I did him proud, though now, I'll never know.
Thank you for the fond memories, Mr. Gerard. You were one of my childhood heroes and that's no small thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment