Gil Gerard is best known for his portrayal of Captain William "Buck" Rogers from 1979 to 1981 in the TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

The campy cult classic featured a macho astronaut named Buck, Erin Grey as the gorgeous Colonel Wilma Deering and a comedic sidekick robot named Twiki. Famous for being hero to a futuristic Earth, Gil fought many battles behind the scenes with, what would prove to be, present-day values, advocating equal rights for women and taking on controversial roles in film.

In 1971, Gil landed a role as a gay pilot in a film called Some of my best friends are..., a dramatic film set in a gay bar on Christmas Eve - a reminder that forty years ago, the word ‘gay’ and the lifestyle was only alluded to or whispered. A heterosexual actor from Arkansas, Gil found himself being hustled by his co-star. "He thought we should get naked and explore each other’s bodies... He said that it would help the role." Gil politely told his co-star, "I guess the role will just have to suffer."

Gil was struck by the incredible loneliness of the characters in the film. To celebrate the holidays together, each character was at the bar because, "they had nowhere else to go?! I must say, straight or gay, that is generally the type of people I have found in bars in my life, particularly the late night places, incredibly lonely people... looking for love in all the wrong places." This role showed Gil a lifestyle he had no knowledge of, nor had he ever experienced the culture. Luckily, Gil never witnessed blatant intolerance towards the gay lifestyle, attributing this to the open-minded perspectives of people in and around the Hollywood film and television scene. "It strikes me that the people who were intolerant of gays in the seventies, are the same people who are intolerant of gays (today)."

The seventies were also an era for equal opportunity for women in the workforce. Gil fought vehemently behind the scenes for women to be cast in equally strong roles. In the Buck Rogers movie, set 500 years into the future, Gil found himself next to his costar Erin Grey, the sole female on the flight deck. Erin agreed her being the only female commanding officer didn’t compute, "We had to shut down production until they got women, got them in costume and brought them onto the set... and that set the tone that we were in the future."

Erin went on to praise Gil for being a huge part of that. Gil told the producers there were going to be young girls watching this show, "I want them to see that if they are interested in being a pilot or are interested in mechanical things... that they can look at (the show) and tell themselves that they CAN do that. I did not want anything said about it. I did not want it underlined. I didn’t want any speeches about it... I just wanted it to BE!"

Gil paid a bitter price for his advocacy, "I was known as a trouble maker for that. I think that women should get equal pay. I think women should have equal opportunity to anything that men can do. I do not think that anyone should get preferential treatment based on their sex." Both the producers of the movie and of the show conceded, depicting women in combat as officers, guards, pilots, mechanics and crew.

Gil also played alongside his good friend, Suzanne Pleshette in a couple of romantic comedies, one of which was the second highest rated TV movie in the history of television called Help Wanted: Male, released in 1982. Susanne’s character, an unmarried career woman, wanted a baby and, when her boyfriend comes up short, she is searching for a suitable fertile donor.

Popular shows, such as South Park, Family Guy and The Simpsons have paid tribute to Buck Rogers. Traveling across country, Gil turned on the television in his hotel room and happened to flick the channel to Family Guy at the exact moment that the character on screen was being taken away, "for teaching his theory on the origins of the universe, of which Gil Gerard ejaculates into the primordial ooze, creating life as we know it today." Gil recalled being dumbfounded, "and I said, Damn!?"

Boasting both a twelve inch and a six inch action figure, Gil is forever making people laugh and captivating his audiences with his sly sense of humour and rapier wit. As a lyric baritone, he has performed in multiple musicals, including Music Man, Most Happy Fella and Oklahoma. He produced The Amen Corner, a James Baldwin play, swearing he would never do that again and he was published in an American Anthology of Poets.

He is currently writing short stories, golfing and playing tennis in his spare time.

Fans of Gil Gerard should keep an eye out for his latest project, a film called Blood Fare, a Civil War ghost story with a modern twist, by female action filmmaker, J.A. Steel.

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Contributor Jade Cooper |

Locale Calgary |

Person Gil Gerard |

Topic Buck Rogers | Calgary Expo | Celebrity Interview | Comic Expo |