Actor Michael Gray, best known as Billy Batson in the 1970s Saturday morning television series “Shazam!” has died at the age of 75.
His publicist confirmed that Gray died of natural causes on Oct. 16 in Palm Desert, California. He is survived by his wife, Stacy Bennon Gray, and his two stepchildren.
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Gray was a teenage heartthrob who appeared in a dozen TV shows throughout the 70s. He made his television debut as a background actor in “Room 222,” and rose to prominence in “The Brady Bunch” when he dated Marcia Brady while she was working in an ice cream shop.
He spent three seasons on “Shazam!” as Batson, who would turn into superhero Captain Marvel.
“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 said in an interview with Comic Book Resources. “They changed that real quick. That definitely didn’t work.”
He was born in Chicago on Sept. 2, 1951, and was raised in Miami Beach before he headed to Hollywood, where he studied acting at the Pasadena Playhouse.
Later in life, Gray made a cameo appearance in the DC movie “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” and provided the voice for a fictionalized version of himself in “Archer.”
