Variety has officially reported that actor Michael Gray (Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Run, Simon, Run) has passed at age 75 due to natural causes on October 16th, 2026 in Palm Desert, California. Gray had been acting for over 50 years.
Gray made it to Hollywood for his acting debt as a student in 1969 on the comedy-drama, Room 222. He starred in his first series role back in 1972, playing a student doctor known as Ronnie Collins, on the first season of NBC’s The Little People.
He is best known for starring as Billy Batson in the Saturday morning superhero show, CBS’s Shazam!. Gray’s Billy Batson was a teen who could transform with the words “Shazam” and turn into a grown up superhero called Captain Marvel. The show was very popular in the 1970s, young teenagers considering Gray as a very popular TV teen idol at the time. The show ran for three seasons, with a total of 28 episodes.
He also appeared as Jeff in an episode of on one of ABC’S most popular sitcoms, The Brady Bunch. Jeff was Marcia Brady’s boyfriend, one of the Brady bunch family members. Gray’s popularity on the show had him become a 1970s teen heartthrob, appearing on the cover of multiple popular teen magazines at the time.
Gray was born in Chicago, Illinois on Sept 2. 1951. Even though he was born in Chicago, he grew up in Miami Beach.Gray married his wife, Stacy Benon Gray, in 1994 and had been together for 32 years. In the mid 2000s, they both at one point owned a flower shop in Los Angeles, California.
Gray made a cameo appearance on DC’s Shazam! Fury of the Gods. This marked one of his last acting roles, along with recurring voice role playing himself in the adult animated sitcom Archer. Gray appeared as childhood idol of the main character of the show, Sterling Archer, who was voiced by H. Jon Benjamin (Bob’s Burgers, Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist).