Michael Gray, 1970s 'Shazam!' TV star, dies aged 75

Michael Gray, who played Billy Batson in the 1970s live-action Saturday-morning television series Shazam!, has died aged 75, his family announced on 22 October. Extra

In a statement to Extra, his family said he died on Friday 16 October from natural causes. His publicist confirmed to CBR that he passed of natural causes on 16 October. CBR

Born in Chicago on 2 September 1951, Gray began his television career in 1972 with a role in NBC’s The Little People and played Marcia’s boyfriend Jeff in a 1973 episode of The Brady Bunch. His early career also included appearances in Dynasty, Marcus Welby, M.D., Room 222 and The Flying Nun, and he played Burt Reynolds’ younger brother in the TV movie Run, Simon, Run, as well as appearing in the films Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and Myra Breckinridge. Comic Book Club

He is best remembered for starring as Billy Batson in the live-action Shazam! series in the 1970s, a role that made him a teen idol. Later in his career he voiced a fictionalised version of himself as one of Sterling Archer’s boyhood idols in the FX animated series Archer, appearing in four episodes in 2015 and 2019. 13th Dimension

Gray is survived by his wife of more than 30 years, Stacy Benon Gray, whom he married in 1994, his two stepchildren, and his son-in-law. Extra