Gil Gerard, best known for starring as the hero in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, has died aged 82.
The actor, who was living in Georgia, unexpectedly died on Tuesday morning after battling cancer.
His wife Janet announced the news in a Facebook post, sharing that he had ‘lost his fight with a rare and viciously aggressive form of cancer’.
‘From the moment when we knew something was wrong to his death this morning was only days,’ she continued, adding: ‘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.’
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century originally aired on NBC in the US from 1979 to 1981, with Gerard as the wisecracking William ‘Buck’ Rogers – initially in a feature-length pilot episode that was later released in cinemas.
A 20th century pilot who wakes up after 500 years of suspended animation and defends the Earth from space villains, Buck Rogers was a sci-fi hero who first appeared in a newspaper comic strip in 1929.
The show was developed following the runaway success of Star Wars.
This breaking news story is being updated.
