Michael Gray, Shazam!‘s Original Billy Batson, Dies at 75

Actor Michael Gray, star of the 1970s live-action Shazam! television series has died. He was 75 years old. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor passed away Friday, October 16th in Palm Desert of natural causes as confirmed by a family spokesperson. He is survived by his wife, Stacy Benon Gray and stepchildren Ryan Cooper and Laurel Cooper.

For DC fans, Gray is perhaps best known for his role as Billy Batson in television’s Shazam!. The series debuted in 1974 as part of CBS’s Saturday morning lineup with the series notably being Filmation’s first non-animated series. For three seasons and 28 episodes, Gray portrayed the teen who, by saying the magic word “Shazam!” transformed into the adult superhero Captain Marvel (the adult hero was portrayed first by Jackson Bostwick and later by John Davey). It’s a role that Gray would credit with launching his career and, decades later, he even had a cameo appearance in Shazam! Fury of the Gods as a man on the street briefly interacting with Zachary Levi’s hero.

Before his role as Billy Batson, Gray was a teen heartthrob in the 70s with numerous appearances on teen magazines of the day and also had multiple other television credits, starting in 1969 with an appearance in Room 222 and, most notably outside of Shazam!, an appearance as Marcia’s boyfriend in a 1973 episodes of The Brady Bunch. For Gray, however, it was Shazam! that was always exciting to him, despite not having known anything about the character when the series began.

“I didn’t know the character or the story when I was initially cast, so I had to be a quick study — so it was fun and exhausting, challenging and thrilling, all at once,” Gray said during an SDCC appearance. “It didn’t matter that it was on Saturday morning or prime time — though the fact that it was one of the first few live-action shows on Saturday morning was exciting. It truly was a thrilling show to work on.”

Gray was born in Chicago on September 2, 1951, and grew up in Miami Beach, Florida before moving to Los Angeles to study acting. While he would eventually take a hiatus from acting after his time on Shazam!, in later years he would continue to celebrate the role at various convention appearances, coming to understand the impact the hero had on fans.

“I meet people who say, ‘You have no idea what you did for me as a child.’ You helped me get through life.’ You made me the better man, or woman, that I am today,’” Gray said in 2012. “And that’s a nice feeling. I didn’t know the show had that much strength and power back then.”

Our thoughts go out to Gray’s family and friends during this time.