For millions of kids growing up in the 1970s, all it took was one word to turn an ordinary teenager into a superhero.
“Shazam!”
Michael Gray, the actor who became a Saturday-morning TV favorite as Billy Batson on Shazam!, died October 16 in Palm Desert, California. He was 75.
His family said Gray died of natural causes.
”I mumbled to much…”
Long before superheroes dominated movie theaters, Gray helped bring one into American living rooms every weekend. From 1974 to 1976, he starred as Billy Batson, the teenager who could transform into the mighty Captain Marvel simply by uttering that famous word.
But Gray’s story went well beyond the red-and-yellow superhero suit — and at the height of his fame, being one of the biggest teen idols of the era became far more intense than he ever expected.
Born in Chicago on September 2, 1951, Gray moved with his family to Miami a few years later. As a youngster, he actually had his sights set on becoming a newscaster, but that dream didn’t last long. As he joked in a 1976 interview, “I gave it up when I discovered I mumbled too much.”
Instead, Gray found his way into acting at a young age, eventually gaining wider attention when he played Burt Reynolds’ brother in the ABC TV movie Run, Simon, Run.
In 1972, he landed a regular role on The Little People, later known as The Brian Keith Show, playing student doctor Ronnie Collins alongside Brian Keith and Shelley Fabares.
Gray was already becoming a familiar face to young TV viewers when he appeared on The Brady Bunch in 1973 as one of Marcia Brady’s boyfriends.
In the episode “Marcia Gets Creamed,” his character is caught at an ice cream parlor with another girl — prompting Marcia, played by Maureen McCormick, to get her revenge with a blast of whipped cream.
Despite his growing fame, Gray seemed to have a much simpler future in mind.
“I guess my basic goal, other than acting, is to find a nice girl, settle down and raise a lot of kids,” he told The Monroe Dispatch in 1976.
Starring as Billy Batson
But then came the role that would follow Gray for the rest of his life.
In 1974, he was cast as Billy Batson on Shazam!, a live-action Saturday-morning adventure series based on the comic-book character. Billy traveled around helping people and, when trouble arrived, transformed into Captain Marvel, played first by Jackson Bostwick and later by John Davey.
Gray appeared in 28 episodes over the show’s three-season run.
Years later, he admitted he barely knew anything about the character when he got the job.
“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. 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.”
Some of that excitement was more literal than Gray might have preferred.
While the crew was figuring out how to film Billy’s transformation into Captain Marvel, one early special effect didn’t exactly go according to plan.
“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. They changed that real quick. That definitely didn’t work.”
Fortunately, the effect didn’t last.
The show did.
Unforgettable part of Saturday mornings
For a generation of young viewers, Shazam! became an unforgettable part of Saturday mornings. And Gray himself became something else entirely: a full-fledged teen idol.
His face appeared constantly in magazines like Tiger Beat and 16, alongside some of the biggest young stars of the decade.
Gray later acknowledged that his sudden heartthrob status wasn’t entirely accidental.
“The teen idol angle was orchestrated to some degree. They wanted me to be the next David Cassidy. I was on the front cover of Tiger Beat often, and it worked. Back then, when the show was running and all the fan magazine coverage was going on, I couldn’t leave my house. It got pretty ugly sometimes.”
Eventually, Gray stepped away from acting and built a very different life outside Hollywood. He married and, with his wife, ran a flower shop in West Hollywood. He also worked in men’s fashion and children’s educational theater.
For decades, Shazam! largely remained a cherished memory for the people who had watched it as kids.
Then something unexpected happened.
As those kids grew up, Gray began discovering just how much the little Saturday-morning superhero show had actually meant to them.
When Shazam! finally arrived on DVD, Gray spoke about reconnecting with the fans who had never forgotten Billy Batson.
“I can’t tell you how overwhelmed I am — Shazam! is such a major part of my life, and for 30-some-odd-years, it just collected dust. I run into people 10 times a week who ask me, ‘When is Shazam! going to come out on DVD?’ ‘Have they ever put it back on TV?’ I didn’t know how much I would like Shazam! until years later when I found out how much of an influence my character and the show was on people’s lives.”
Returned to acting
Gray believed there was a simple reason the series remained so meaningful decades later.
“There were such good moral values to the show, and I meet people (everyday) 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.’ And that’s a nice feeling. I didn’t know the show had that much strength and power back then.”
Gray eventually returned to acting occasionally. He voiced a version of himself, “TV’s Michael Gray,” on several episodes of FX’s Archer between 2015 and 2019 and appeared in multiple installments of the Surge of Power franchise.
Then, nearly half a century after he first played Billy Batson, Gray received one particularly fitting Hollywood homecoming.
He made a cameo in the 2023 movie Shazam! Fury of the Gods, sharing a scene connected to Zachary Levi’s modern version of the superhero — a nod to the man who had helped introduce Shazam! to a generation of television viewers.
“This is a tough one”
Following news of Gray’s death, fellow 1970s teen idol and Land of the Lost star Wesley Eure remembered the actor and the years when their shows — and their faces — were competing for the attention of Saturday-morning viewers.
“This is a tough one. The wonderful Michael Gray (Star of the 1970s TV show Shazam!) has passed. In the early days of our careers, our lives passed many times at industry and private parties and also at the Tiger Beat Magazine offices. And of course, in recent years, we bumped into each other at different autograph shows. Michael’s show Shazam! was on at the same time as Land Of The Lost. Michael was a true teen idol and was on the cover of so many magazines. I think he actually broke the record. What a dear dear dear man. This is a very sad loss. Damn! Time to rest, my friend. XOXOXO.”
John Davey, who played Captain Marvel alongside Gray on Shazam!, also remembered the man behind Billy Batson with affection.
“From my very first day on Shazam!, Mike … welcomed me like a king. 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. He really enjoyed meeting and chatting with the fans. Mike was a wonderful man — I don’t think he ever stopped smiling.”
Gray is survived by his wife of more than 30 years, two stepchildren and his son-in-law.
He may have spent only three seasons playing Billy Batson, but nearly 50 years later, strangers were still approaching him to explain what that Saturday-morning show had meant to them.
For an actor who once admitted he had no idea how much “strength and power” Shazam! possessed, perhaps that became the most meaningful part of the role in the end.
Rest in peace, Michael Gray.
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