Benji Gregory, who starred as a child in the hit television series “ALF” from 1986 to 1990, has died. He was 46.
His death was confirmed by his sister, Rebecca Pfaffinger, who said in an interview that Mr. Gregory and his service dog were found dead in his car on June 13 at a bank’s parking lot in Peoria, Ariz., and that the family did not announce the death sooner to take time to mourn. In a Facebook post, she added that he had fallen asleep in the vehicle and had died of heatstroke.
Mr. Gregory was known mainly for his role as Brian Tanner on “ALF,” an NBC sitcom about a suburban family that adopts a snout-nosed, Chewbacca-like “alien life form” (the basis of the character’s nickname) with the personality of a PG-rated insult comic. Brian is something like ALF’s younger sibling and best friend.
The show technically left the air in 1990, but it would endure in memory as a characteristic artifact of 1980s pop culture.
When RadioShack attempted to relaunch its brand in 2014, it aired a Super Bowl commercial in which a store employee answers the phone; announces, “The ’80s called; they want their store back”; and then watches helplessly as Cliff from “Cheers,” Chucky, Hulk Hogan and ALF loot the shelves. In an ’80s-themed Delta in-flight safety video the same year, a sunglasses-wearing passenger applies an oxygen mask to himself first before fitting one around ALF’s snout.
“ALF” was not generally considered prestige TV. In 2013, Lenny Venito, a member of the cast of “The Neighbors,” a short-lived ABC sitcom with an alien theme, complained to The New York Times that among critics his show “got compared a lot to ‘ALF,’” which meant, Mr. Venito continued, “they felt like you’re trying to get by on some gimmick and make a lot of money.” Earlier this year, The Times described “ALF” as belonging to the genre of “weird family TV shows.”
Yet it retained nostalgic devotees. Thomas Cannavo, a resident of Jackson, N.J., kept up an “ALF” fan club years after the show went off the air. He told The Times in 1997 that, after a son of his was born, “My wife was afraid I’d call him you-know-what.” Times war reporting in Sarajevo in 1992 turned up a bar in that city called ALF, inspired by the show. And in a 2022 interview with “BTM Legends Corner,” a show on YouTube, Mr. Gregory said that 80 percent of the still sizable flow of fan mail he received came from Germany.
He recalled that his main challenge on the show was looking at the ALF puppet and not at Paul Fusco, the character’s puppeteer and voice. Over time, Mr. Gregory said, “It became quite natural to interact with ALF.”
Benjamin Gregory Hertzberg was born on May 26, 1978, in the Los Angeles area, and grew up in Thousand Oaks, Calif. He acted in commercials as a baby. His father, Gary Hertzberg, was a federal examiner of credit unions, and his mother, Patty (Stenger) Hertzberg, worked as his manager. Gary’s mother, Estelle Hertzberg, was a veteran talent agent who also helped Ben’s career.
Mr. Gregory appeared in a string of hit shows in the 1980s in addition to “Alf,” including “The A-Team,” “Punky Brewster” and “Amazing Stories.”
His film credits include “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” a 1986 comedy about a lonely computer programmer in Manhattan played by Whoopi Goldberg, and the 1993 animated movie “Once Upon a Forest.”
He moved on from acting while still in his 20s and joined the Navy, working as a weatherman on an aircraft carrier before being honorably discharged, his sister said. He married while in the Navy and was later divorced.
He had lived with bipolar disorder and depression and received care for both, his sister, Ms. Pfaffinger, said. In another recent YouTube interview, Mr. Gregory said he had run into Max Wright, who played his father on “ALF” (and who died in 2019), at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, and that the two of them had kept in touch. Mr. Gregory frequently posted about psychological disorders and addiction on social media.
Ms. Pfaffinger said that in addition to her, Mr. Gregory was survived by his mother (now Patty Golightly); his father; his stepfather, Hal Golightly; his stepmother, Judy Hertzberg; and a brother.
The post Benji Gregory, Child Star Best Known for ‘ALF,’ Dies at 46 appeared first on New York Times.
