Michael Gray, Billy Batson on the 1970s 'Shazam!' TV series, dies at 75

Michael Gray, the actor who played teenager Billy Batson on the 1970s CBS live-action series “Shazam!”, has died. He was 75.

Gray died of natural causes on Friday, Oct. 16, in Palm Desert, California, his representative confirmed to Deadline. The news became public on Oct. 22, prompting tributes from fans who grew up watching the Saturday morning show.

Who was Michael Gray?

Gray was born in Chicago on Sept. 2, 1951, and raised in Miami Beach, Florida, according to Variety. He moved to Los Angeles to study acting at the Pasadena Playhouse.

One of his early television roles came in 1972, when he was cast in NBC’s “The Little People” alongside Brian Keith and Shelley Fabares. Before and around that, he picked up guest roles on a string of well-known series, Deadline and Variety reported:

• “The Brady Bunch,” where he played Marcia’s boyfriend Jeff in a 1973 episode
• “Dynasty”
• “Marcus Welby, M.D.”
• “Room 222”
• “The Flying Nun”

He also played Burt Reynolds’ younger brother in the TV movie “Run, Simon, Run” and appeared in the 1970 films “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls” and “Myra Breckinridge.”

What was his role on “Shazam!”?

Gray’s big break came in 1974, when he landed the role of Billy Batson on “Shazam!” In the show, Billy was a teenage boy who could turn into the superhero Captain Marvel by saying the magic word “Shazam!” With his guardian, “Mentor” (Les Tremayne), Billy traveled the country in a 1973 Dodge motorhome, looking for wrongs to set right. Captain Marvel was played first by Jackson Bostwick and later by John Davey.

The series aired on CBS from 1974 to 1976. During those years Gray also became a teen idol, appearing often on the covers of Tiger Beat and other teen magazines.

“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 at a 2012 Comic-Con panel, as quoted by Deadline. “It truly was a thrilling show to work.”

What did he do after the show?

After “Shazam!”, Gray began to feel typecast and stepped away from acting for a while, Variety reported. During that time he worked in children’s theater education and men’s fashion, and he owned and ran a floral business with his wife, Stacy.

A 2012 remastered DVD release of “Shazam!” sparked a career revival. Gray became a regular at fan conventions and returned to the screen in smaller roles:

• A four-episode arc as a voice on FX’s animated comedy “Archer,” playing “TV’s Michael Gray,” one of Sterling Archer’s boyhood idols
• The “Surge of Power” film franchise
• An appearance on AMC’s “Comic Book Men”
• A cameo in the 2023 film “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” where he shared a scene with Zachary Levi’s Captain Marvel as a nod to the original series

“I meet people [everyday] who say, ‘You have no idea what you did for me as a child,’” Gray told Fanboy Planet in 2012, according to Variety. “And that’s a nice feeling. I didn’t know the show had that much strength and power back then.”

How are co-stars remembering him?

John Davey, who played Captain Marvel opposite him, remembered Gray warmly in a statement to Variety. “From my very first day on ‘Shazam!,’ Mike and Les [Tremayne] welcomed me like a king,” Davey said. “Mike was just a loving, sweet guy with a great sense of humor. He loved acting, loved doing the show and, in recent years, loved appearing at comic cons. … Mike was a wonderful man. I don’t think he ever stopped smiling.”

Who survives him?

Gray is survived by his wife, Stacy Benon Gray, whom he married in 1994; his stepchildren, Ryan Cooper and Laurel Cooper; and son-in-law Lee Barker, according to both outlets.

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