Child star Benji Gregory, best known for “ALF,” passes away at age 46

 The popular sitcom, starring an extraterrestrial, ran from 1986 to 1990 but would live on in people’s memories as a quintessential piece of 1980s popular culture.

Benji Gregory, who played in the popular television series “ALF” from 1986 to 1990 as a child, has away. 46 was his age. His sister, Rebecca Pfaffinger, verified his death in an interview, stating that on June 13 at a bank parking lot in Peoria, Arizona, Mr. Gregory and his service dog were discovered dead in his car.

The family chose not to make the announcement right away so they could take some time to grieve. She said on Facebook that he passed away from heatstroke after dozing off in the car.

Mr. Gregory gained notoriety primarily for his portrayal of Brian Tanner in the NBC sitcom “ALF,” which follows a suburban family who takes in a snout-nosed, Chewbacca-like “alien life form” (thus the term) with the mentality of a PG-rated insult comic. Brian is ALF’s closest buddy and younger brother.

Although the show officially ended in 1990, it would live on in people’s memories as a quintessential piece of 1980s popular culture.

In an attempt to revitalise its brand, RadioShack produced a Super Bowl commercial in 2014. The commercial featured an employee saying, “The ’80s called; they want their store back,” and then he or she watched helplessly as Cliff from “Cheers,” Chucky, Hulk Hogan, and ALF ransacked the shelves.

The same year, in a Delta in-flight safety video with an 80s theme, a passenger wearing sunglasses puts on an oxygen mask for himself before wrapping one around ALF’s muzzle.

Most people did not view “ALF” as prestige television. A cast member of the short-lived ABC sitcom “The Neighbours,” which had an alien theme, Lenny Venito complained to The New York Times in 2013 that his show “got compared a lot to ‘ALF,’” meaning that viewers felt like the show was trying to make a lot of money by relying on a gimmick. “ALF” was categorised as a “weird family TV show” earlier this year by The Times.

Nonetheless, its fans remained sentimental. Jackson, New Jersey resident Thomas Cannavo maintained a “ALF” fan group for many years after the program ended. In 1997, he told The Times that his wife was worried he would call his newborn kid “you-know-what.” In 1992, Times war reporting in Sarajevo led to the discovery of the ALF bar, which was named after the television program.

Additionally, Mr. Gregory stated in a 2022 interview with the YouTube program “BTM Legends Corner” that 80 percent of the still substantial amount of fan letters he received was from Germany.

He remembered that his primary task on the show was to focus on the ALF puppet rather than Paul Fusco, who plays the puppeteer and voice of the character. Mr. Gregory claimed that “interacting with ALF became quite natural” over time. Born in the Los Angeles region on May 26, 1978, Benjamin Gregory Hertzberg was raised in Thousand Oaks, California. As a newborn, he appeared in ads.

His mother, Patty (Stenger) Hertzberg, was his manager, and his father, Gary Hertzberg, was a federal examiner of credit unions. Ben’s career was further aided by the seasoned talent agent Estelle Hertzberg, Gary’s mother.

In the 1980s, Mr. Gregory starred in several popular television series, such as “Amazing Stories,” “Punky Brewster,” and “The A-Team,” in addition to “Alf.”

His filmography includes the 1993 animated feature “Once Upon a Forest” and the 1986 comedy “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” which stars Whoopi Goldberg as a lonely computer programmer in Manhattan. Still in his 20s, he abandoned acting to enlist in the Navy and serve as a weatherman on an aircraft carrier until receiving an honourable discharge, according to his sister. He got married and got divorced while serving in the Navy.

His sister, Ms. Pfaffinger, stated that he had lived with depression and bipolar disorder and had received treatment for both. In a subsequent YouTube video, Mr. Gregory stated he had seen Max Wright, the actor who portrayed his father on “ALF” and passed away in 2019, at a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous and that they remained in contact. On social media, Mr. Gregory regularly shared posts concerning addiction and psychiatric illnesses.

Mr. Gregory was survived by his mother (now Patty Golightly), father, stepfather, Hal Golightly, stepmother, Judy Hertzberg, and a sibling, according to Ms. Pfaffinger.