The late actor rose to fame playing Brian Tanner in 101 episodes of ‘ALF’ from 1986 to 1990.
Benji Gregory, best known for his role on ALF, has died. He was 46.
Rebecca Hertzberg-Pfaffinger, his older sister, shared news of his death on Facebook.
“It is with a heavy heart my family has suffered a loss way too early,” she wrote of Gregory. “Ben was a great Son, Brother and Uncle. He was fun to be around and made us laugh quite often. Still, going through his things, I find myself laughing at little videos or notes of his, in between crying.”
“My brother Ben was found in his car, along with his beloved service dog Hans, deceased on June 13,” she continued. “We believe he went there the evening of the 12th to deposit some residuals. (Found in his car) and never got out of the car to do so. He fell asleep and died from vehicular heatstroke.”
On June 13, the late actor was found dead in his car in the parking lot of a Chase Bank located in Peoria, Arizona, according to TMZ. The temperature rose as high as 109 degrees on June 12 where he was in Arizona.
The Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office told ABC7 Los Angeles that his cause of death is still pending.
Rebecca Hertzberg-Pfaffinger, his older sister, revealed that Gregory had been struggling with depression, bipolar disorder, and a sleep disorder that kept him awake for days.
Benji Gregory rose to fame playing Brian Tanner in 101 episodes of ALF from 1986 to 1990. The show followed the title character — ALF, which stands for “Alien Life Form” but is actually named Gordon Shumway — after he crashed into the garage of the Tanner family’s suburban home. Puppeteer Paul Fusco, who co-created the series with Tom Patchett, brought ALF to life.
In 2018, Warner Bros. announced that it was in the early stages of creating a reboot of ALF. However, the plans were canceled later that same year after failing to secure a home for the project. Recently in February, Shout! Factory announced that it had acquired the rights to ALF and would be developing new related content.
For those wanting to relive the nostalgic moments, ALF is available to stream now on Peacock and Amazon Prime.
