Michael Gray, actor in 1970s Shazam! series, died at 75

Michael Gray, the actor who played Billy Batson in the 1970s live-action CBS children’s series “Shazam!,” died on Oct. 16 at the age of 75 from natural causes in Palm Desert, latimes.com reported.

From Saturday Morning Screen to Teen Magazine Covers

Born in Chicago on Sept. 2, 1951, Gray grew up in Miami Beach before moving to Hollywood to study acting at the Pasadena Playhouse, according to hollywoodreporter.com. His early television credits included appearances on “Room 222,” “The Flying Nun,” and “Marcus Welby, M.D.,” alongside a 1973 stint on “The Brady Bunch” as Marcia’s boyfriend Jeff,WVTM noted. Before landing his signature television role, his manager and Tiger Beat publisher Charles Laufer orchestrated a teen idol campaign that placed Gray frequently on the covers of pop magazines. “The teen idol angle was orchestrated to some degree,” Gray said during a Q&A event, according to latimes.com. “I was interviewing for ‘The Brian Keith Show’ with Warner Brothers, and they also owned a news company that produced a lot of magazines. They wanted me to be the next David Cassidy.”

Transforming Into Captain Marvel on CBS

“Shazam!” ran for three seasons on CBS from 1974 to 1976, featuring Gray as a teenager who transformed into the adult superhero Captain Marvel by uttering a single word. The production relied on practical effects during early camera tests. “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 recalled in an interview with Comic Book Resources, as cited by hollywoodreporter.com. “They changed that real quick. That definitely didn’t work.” While Jackson Bostwick and John Davey portrayed the adult superhero form across the series, Gray anchored the show as Billy Batson. Reflecting on the series years later, Gray noted that he initially did not recognize the cultural footprint of the program. “I didn’t know how much I would like it until years later when I found out how much of an influence my character was, and the show was, in people’s lives,” he said in a 2012 interview with Fanboy Planet, according to latimes.com.

Gray Left Acting Before DVD Release Revived Career

Intense fan magazine attention and subsequent typecasting prompted Gray to leave acting not long after the show concluded. He transitioned to work in children’s theater education, men’s fashion, and operating a West Hollywood floral business with his wife, Stacy, hollywoodreporter.com reported. The eventual release of the series on DVD in 2012 reintroduced him to fan conventions and audiences who grew up watching the show. Decades later, his tenure as Billy Batson led to renewed screen work, including voicing a fictionalized version of himself as Sterling Archer’s childhood hero across four episodes of the FX animated series “Archer” from 2015 to 2019, alongside a cameo appearance in the 2023 feature film “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” where he interacted with Zachary Levi. Gray is survived by his wife, Stacy Benon Gray, his stepchildren Ryan Cooper and Laurel Cooper, and son-in-law Lee Barker, as reported by latimes.com and WVTM.