‘ALF’ star Benji Gregory dies at 46 amid Arizona heat wave
LOS ANGELES — Benji Gregory, who starred in the late-’80s family sitcom “ALF,” died last month in Arizona. He was 46.
His official cause of death was still pending Wednesday night, according to the Maricopa County medical examiner’s office.
Earlier in the day, his sister confirmed his death to the New York Times, and said in a Facebook post that Gregory died of “vehicular heatstroke” in a Chase Bank parking lot in Peoria, Arizona.
“It is with a heavy heart my family has suffered a loss way too early,” his sister wrote. “My brother Ben was found in his car, along with his beloved service dog Hans, deceased on June 13.”
She said it appeared he’d fallen asleep in the car after driving to the bank on June 12 to deposit residual checks.
“Ben was a great Son, Brother and Uncle,” Rebecca Hertzberg-Pfaffinger continued. “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.”
Hertzberg-Pfaffinger also told the N.Y. Times that her brother had lived with bipolar disorder and depression and been treated for both.
In the latter half of the 1980s, Gregory skyrocketed to fame playing Brian Tanner in a show about a family who adopted a hairy alien life form — ALF — after his spaceship crashed into their house.
The California native also appeared in dozens of commercials and guest-starred in hit shows including “The A-Team,” “The Twilight Zone” and “T.J. Hooker.” According to IMDb, Gregory later enlisted in the U.S. Navy and became an aerographer’s mate.
