# Erin Gray

**Erin Gray** (born 1950) is an American actress and former model best known for playing Colonel Wilma Deering in the science fiction series *Buck Rogers in the 25th Century* (1979 to 1981) and Kate Summers Stratton in the sitcom *[Silver Spoons](https://www.edgepedia.org/silver-spoons)* (1982 to 1987).<sup>[1](https://apnews.com/article/37804f35373cc778f034be624f6a3182)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/buck-rogers-erin-gray-colonel-wilma-deering)</sup> A working model from her teens, she moved into television acting in her late twenties and later built a second career organizing fan conventions for actors and advocating for survivors of domestic violence.<sup>[3](https://www.wired.com/2012/10/erin-gray-then-and-now/)</sup>

| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1950 (listed as 74 in an Associated Press 2024 birthday roundup)<sup>[1](https://apnews.com/article/37804f35373cc778f034be624f6a3182)</sup> |
| Signature roles | Colonel Wilma Deering, *Buck Rogers in the 25th Century*, 1979–1981; Kate Summers Stratton, *Silver Spoons*, 1982–1987<sup>[2](https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/buck-rogers-erin-gray-colonel-wilma-deering)</sup> |
| Modeling career | Cover of the 1969 Sears catalog, full-page Virginia Slims ads, Bloomingdale's commercials; one of the original Sports Illustrated models<sup>[3](https://www.wired.com/2012/10/erin-gray-then-and-now/)</sup> |
| Buck Rogers pay | As a Universal Studios contract player she was paid $600 per week<sup>[3](https://www.wired.com/2012/10/erin-gray-then-and-now/)</sup> |
| Legacy of the role | Widely described as a role model for female viewers; women told her the character inspired them to join the military<sup>[4](https://awsprxdam.crownmediadev.com.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/highRes/1585720.pdf)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[5](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/the-den-of-geek-interview-erin-gray/)</sup> |
| Later ventures | Founder of Heroes for Hire, a convention-booking company; co-author of the acting manual *Act Right*<sup>[5](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/the-den-of-geek-interview-erin-gray/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[6](https://www.sidewalkstv.com/interview-erin-gray/)</sup> |
| Advocacy | Longtime spokeswoman for Haven House of Pasadena and the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence<sup>[3](https://www.wired.com/2012/10/erin-gray-then-and-now/)</sup> |

## Modeling and early life

Gray has described a peripatetic childhood, and at age 17 she left home to travel the world as a model.<sup>[3](https://www.wired.com/2012/10/erin-gray-then-and-now/)</sup> She was a math major at UCLA before a modeling agency offered her a trip to Paris to work with the fall collections; sitting in a 350-person calculus class, she decided to take it.<sup>[3](https://www.wired.com/2012/10/erin-gray-then-and-now/)</sup> Her credits over a thirteen-year modeling career included the cover of the 1969 Sears catalog, full-page [Virginia Slims](https://www.edgepedia.org/virginia-slims) advertisements, and [Bloomingdale's](https://www.edgepedia.org/bloomingdales) television commercials, and she described herself as one of the original [Sports Illustrated](https://www.edgepedia.org/sports-illustrated) models.<sup>[3](https://www.wired.com/2012/10/erin-gray-then-and-now/)</sup> Between assignments she studied acting with the coach Warren Robertson, preparing for the television movie offers that followed.<sup>[7](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001292/)</sup>

She has recalled the financial realities of a young model married to an Army soldier stationed at Fort Bragg in the late 1960s: earning six figures and appearing on the Sears cover, she was refused a store credit card because her husband was not an officer.<sup>[3](https://www.wired.com/2012/10/erin-gray-then-and-now/)</sup> A ten-year spokeswoman deal with Bloomingdale's later helped make her transition from modeling to acting financially viable.<sup>[3](https://www.wired.com/2012/10/erin-gray-then-and-now/)</sup>

## Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

**The screen test.** After years of modeling, Gray was cast in the 1978 television miniseries *Evening at Byzantium* alongside [Glenn Ford](https://www.edgepedia.org/glenn-ford) and [Shirley Jones](https://www.edgepedia.org/shirley-jones). On the last day of filming, after an overnight shoot, the studio called and asked her to test for *Buck Rogers* within hours. She arrived tired and sullen opposite the already-cast [Gil Gerard](https://www.edgepedia.org/gil-gerard), who kept trying to make her smile; she later said that dynamic, the opposite of the eager actresses she competed against, was what won her the part of Wilma Deering.<sup>[3](https://www.wired.com/2012/10/erin-gray-then-and-now/)</sup>

The feature-length pilot premiered in 1979 and became a series on NBC. Although she appeared as one of the top-billed actresses, Gray was a contract player for Universal Studios, paid $600 a week and expecting a wider variety of roles than the series gave her.<sup>[3](https://www.wired.com/2012/10/erin-gray-then-and-now/)</sup> After the pilot she was reluctant to continue, and the production planned to replace her with the actress Juanin Clay until she changed her mind; Clay received a guest spot as a consolation.<sup>[8](https://www.thespacereview.com/article/5129/1)</sup> On set, Gray mostly stayed quiet about Gerard's behind-the-scenes behavior but publicly defended him on one point: during pilot filming he noted that the extras in [Earth Defense Force](https://www.edgepedia.org/earth-defense-force) uniforms were all male, and filming stopped until female actors were found for a more egalitarian future setting.<sup>[8](https://www.thespacereview.com/article/5129/1)</sup>

The show's writers did not serve her well. Wilma Deering was written inconsistently, moving between a hard-nosed, competent officer and a damsel in distress, and ratings sagged during the first season amid poor critical reaction and high cost, prompting a substantial revamp for the second season aboard the spaceship Searcher.<sup>[8](https://www.thespacereview.com/article/5129/1)</sup> When she met the incoming producer, John Mantley, he opened the conversation by telling her he was going to fire her; she was retained, but an attempt was made to change her look. She traded the spandex uniform for a frilled outfit she called "Dairy Queen in space," and it did not last, because she asked for the spandex back.<sup>[9](https://www.aol.com/articles/erin-gray-buck-rogers-auditioning-180246000.html)</sup> The costumes themselves were famously uncomfortable; she compared wearing one to a girdle from head to toe and told the costumer to burn them when the series ended, though they later sold for a considerable sum at auction.<sup>[5](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/the-den-of-geek-interview-erin-gray/)</sup>

Wilma Deering became an unlikely model for women viewers. Gray's account of the character, trained by computers in a post-holocaust setting to be the best person for the job, blended authority with vulnerability, and she has said the Colonel was the first strong woman in a position of power that many viewers saw on television.<sup>[5](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/the-den-of-geek-interview-erin-gray/)</sup> [Hallmark Channel](https://www.edgepedia.org/hallmark-channel) cast materials described her as "seen as an important role model for female viewers" because of the part.<sup>[4](https://awsprxdam.crownmediadev.com.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/highRes/1585720.pdf)</sup> Decades later women still told her the character had drawn them into the military, including a Marine Corps officer who said, "You're the reason."<sup>[9](https://www.aol.com/articles/erin-gray-buck-rogers-auditioning-180246000.html)</sup> Gray has also said she felt objectified by the era's roles, in which she was usually the beautiful supporting figure to a male lead rather than the center of the story.<sup>[9](https://www.aol.com/articles/erin-gray-buck-rogers-auditioning-180246000.html)</sup>

## Silver Spoons and television career

After NBC canceled *Buck Rogers*, Gray worked in television movies and guest parts before returning to NBC in 1982 with *Silver Spoons*, playing Kate Summers, the executive assistant to an immature toy magnate played by Joel Higgins who must raise the son he never knew, played by [Ricky Schroder](https://www.edgepedia.org/ricky-schroder); Kate eventually married Higgins's character and became a stepmother.<sup>[10](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/erin-gray/)</sup> [Fox News](https://www.edgepedia.org/fox-news) records her run on the sitcom as lasting from 1982 until 1987.<sup>[2](https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/buck-rogers-erin-gray-colonel-wilma-deering)</sup> Gray called the job a perfect one for a working mother: because Schroder filmed in the mornings, she worked noon to three, which let her take her own son to school, cook dinner, and attend his games.<sup>[3](https://www.wired.com/2012/10/erin-gray-then-and-now/)</sup>

Her subsequent record includes more than fifty television movies, among them *Perry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace* and *Honor Thy Father and Mother: The True Story of the Menendez Murders*, guest appearances on *Magnum, P.I.*, *Hunter*, *Baywatch*, *Silk Stalkings*, *Murder, She Wrote*, and *Starman*, and independent films including *Hunter Prey* and *Dreams Awake*.<sup>[6](https://www.sidewalkstv.com/interview-erin-gray/)</sup> *Dreams Awake* won her best actress at the Monaco and Houston film festivals, and *The Music Teacher* won her best actress at the 2020 Golden State Film Festival.<sup>[11](https://www.innocentlivesfoundation.org/our-team/erin-gray/)</sup> She has also appeared in genre guest roles such as the two-hour finale of *Starman* and an episode of *Superboy*, and played Madeline Twain in [Felicia Day](https://www.edgepedia.org/felicia-day)'s web series *The Guild*.<sup>[10](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/erin-gray/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[3](https://www.wired.com/2012/10/erin-gray-then-and-now/)</sup> A TV Guide biography lists a 2012 Angel Film Award for Best Actress among her honors.<sup>[12](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/erin-gray/bio/3030192461/)</sup>

## Star Trek, conventions, and business

Gray auditioned for Captain Kathryn Janeway on *Star Trek: Voyager* in the mid-1990s and found it a fight just to be seen; she wanted a role that put a woman in charge of the story, the opposite of the objectified parts she had played. The audition itself went badly: a director she could not place, whom she had worked with on *Magnum, P.I.*, interrupted her opening line with a joke about Hawaii, and she left feeling humiliated. She later called the outcome a blessing, because the role's punishing schedule would have coincided with the birth of another child.<sup>[9](https://www.aol.com/articles/erin-gray-buck-rogers-auditioning-180246000.html)</sup> She did eventually wear a Starfleet uniform, playing Commodore Laura Gray in the fan-produced series *[Star Trek Continues](https://www.edgepedia.org/star-trek-continues)*, debuting with the 2014 episode "Lolani" and returning for "Embracing the Winds."<sup>[9](https://www.aol.com/articles/erin-gray-buck-rogers-auditioning-180246000.html)</sup>

**Heroes for Hire.** Gray carved out a successful additional career as a casting agent booking science-fiction stars for convention appearances.<sup>[13](https://www.gaycalgary.com/magazine.aspx?article=2858&id=103)</sup> The company, [Heroes for Hire](https://www.edgepedia.org/heroes-for-hire), began when Gil Gerard insisted she take the standard 10 percent booker's fee for arranging his first convention; it now represents hundreds of actors and has made her a fixture at fan events.<sup>[5](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/the-den-of-geek-interview-erin-gray/)</sup> With Mara Purl she wrote *Act Right*, a 1998 manual of advice for novice television and film actors.<sup>[4](https://awsprxdam.crownmediadev.com.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/highRes/1585720.pdf)</sup>

She and Gerard worked together again after the series, in the 2007 television film *Nuclear Hurricane* and as Buck's parents in the 2009 pilot of James Cawley's internet series *Buck Rogers Begins*.<sup>[14](https://apnews.com/article/a25dff500da4ff9193d199fc65692279)</sup>

## Advocacy and personal life

For many years Gray has been a spokeswoman for Haven House of Pasadena, California, which she describes as the first battered women's shelter in the United States, founded in 1964.<sup>[3](https://www.wired.com/2012/10/erin-gray-then-and-now/)</sup> She came to the shelter herself after 22 years in what she describes as a tumultuous first marriage, when a friend took her there; she subsequently served on its board or as an adviser for two decades and raised money for it, and has spoken publicly as a spokeswoman for the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.<sup>[3](https://www.wired.com/2012/10/erin-gray-then-and-now/)</sup> She has said she drew on her experience of domestic abuse while building Wilma Deering, describing her on-screen authority as "wearing the cloak of strength."<sup>[3](https://www.wired.com/2012/10/erin-gray-then-and-now/)</sup>

Outside acting she is a tai chi instructor and follower of Taoist thought. Her interest in Chinese medicine began with press coverage of acupuncture in the early 1970s and deepened on *The Rockford Files*, where [James Garner](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-garner) managed a knee injury with daily acupuncture; after being bedridden with pneumonia in 1993, at age 43, she committed to tai chi and has said she has not been sick since.<sup>[3](https://www.wired.com/2012/10/erin-gray-then-and-now/)</sup>

## References

1. [Celebrity birthdays for the week of Jan. 7-13, Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/37804f35373cc778f034be624f6a3182)
2. ["'Buck Rogers' star Erin Gray says she was initially 'scared to death' of playing Col. Wilma Deering", Fox News](https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/buck-rogers-erin-gray-colonel-wilma-deering)
3. ["Erin Gray, Then and Now: an Interview", WIRED (GeekMom), Patricia Vollmer, October 16, 2012](https://www.wired.com/2012/10/erin-gray-then-and-now/)
4. [Hallmark Channel "A Perfect Christmas" cast biography, Erin Gray](https://awsprxdam.crownmediadev.com.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/highRes/1585720.pdf)
5. ["The Den of Geek interview: Erin Gray", Den of Geek, January 2008](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/the-den-of-geek-interview-erin-gray/)
6. ["Interview: Erin Gray", Sidewalks Entertainment](https://www.sidewalkstv.com/interview-erin-gray/)
7. [Erin Gray, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001292/)
8. ["Buck Rogers in the 20th century", The Space Review](https://www.thespacereview.com/article/5129/1)
9. ["Erin Gray on 'Buck Rogers' and Auditioning for 'Star Trek: Voyager'", AOL, Ed Gross](https://www.aol.com/articles/erin-gray-buck-rogers-auditioning-180246000.html)
10. [Erin Gray, TV Insider](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/erin-gray/)
11. [Erin Gray, The Innocent Lives Foundation](https://www.innocentlivesfoundation.org/our-team/erin-gray/)
12. [Erin Gray Biography, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/erin-gray/bio/3030192461/)
13. ["Erin Gray: The Lady of 1000 Talents", GayCalgary Magazine](https://www.gaycalgary.com/magazine.aspx?article=2858&id=103)
14. ["'Buck Rogers' star Gil Gerard dies at 82", Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/a25dff500da4ff9193d199fc65692279)

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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1970s to 1990s › Surnames Gr to G*

*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*

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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license