Gilbert C Gerard is an American actor most notable for his role as Captain William Buck Rogers in the 197981 television series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century Gerard was employed as an industrial chemist and within a few years of starting he became regional manager of a large chemical company headed by governor Winthrop Rockefeller Gerards employers said they would appoint him as the firms vice president if he undertook a masters degree so he resigned rather than explain that he did not have a bachelors degree He then went to New York City where he studied drama by day and drove a taxicab at night Gerard picked up a fare who showed a lively interest in the problems of unknown unemployed actors He told Gerard to report in a few days to the set of Love Story which was being filmed on location in New York When Gerard arrived on the Love Story set he was hired as an extra Later that day he was singled out for a bit role but his role was not included in the finished film During the next few years he did most of his acting in 400 television commercials including a stint as spokesman for the Ford Motor Company After small roles in Some of My Best Friends Are and Man on a Swing Gerard gained a prominent role in the daytime soap opera The Doctors Gerard formed his own production company in partnership with a writerproducer coauthored a screenplay called Hooch and filmed it as a starring vehicle for himself With Hooch completed he appeared in Ransom for Alice and Universals Airport 77 A guest appearance on Little House on the Prairie impressed producerstar Michael Landon who cast him in the leading role in the 1978 TV movie Killing Stone Gerard then landed his bestknown role as Captain William Buck Rogers in the TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century which ran from 197981 with the featurelength pilot episode being released theatrically some months prior to the first broadcast of the series After this he was featured in a number of other TV shows and movies including starring roles in the 1982 TV movie Hear No Evil as Dragon the shortlived series Sidekicks and EARTH Force In 1992 Gerard presented the reality TV series Code 3 and for the remainder of the 1990s Gerard made guest appearances on various TV shows including Fish Police Brotherly Love The Big Easy Days of Our Lives and Pacific Blue In January 2007 Gerard was the subject of the onehour documentary Action Hero Makeover on the Discovery Health Channel which documented his yearlong progress after undergoing lifesaving minigastric bypass surgery in October 2005 According to the program he had been struggling with his weight for 40 years losing weight only to gain it back By the time of the programs production his weight had risen to over 350 pounds 159 kg Within ten months he lost a total of 145 lb 66 kg Gerard and his Buck Rogers costar Erin Gray reunited in 2007 for the TV film Nuclear Hurricane and also returned to the Buck Rogers universe by playing the characters parents in the pilot episode of James Cawleys Buck Rogers Begins Internet video series in 2009 Gerard gueststarred as Admiral Jack Sheehan in Kitumba the January 1 2014 episode of the fan web series Star Trek Phase II In 2015 Gerard voiced Megatronus in Transformers Robots in Disguise
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