Erin Gray
Acting • Born 1950-01-07
Biography
The very beautiful and talented model, actress, and author Erin Gray (born January 7, 1950) was one of the first models to successfully crossover into television. She is best known as "Kate Summers" on the highly watched TV show "Silver Spoons" (1982), and "Colonel Wilma Deering" on the TV show "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" (1979). Many women admired her commanding role as Col Deering, while many men admired her beautiful looks and sexy figure. Erin Gray was born on January 7, 1950 in Honolulu. Gray moved with her family from Hawaii to California when she was eight years old and graduated from Pacific Palisades High School. She was fifteen when a chance meeting with Nina Blanchard, head of one of Hollywood's top model agencies, convinced her what she wanted to do in life. Moving to New York, she became one of the town's most sought-after models, in elite company with Farrah Fawcett, Veronica Hamel and Susan Blakely. TV viewers encountered her commercials for Breck, Max Factor, Clairol, Camay Soap and RC Cola, and a classic spot--for English Leather cologne--in which she provocatively declared, "My men wear English Leather--or they wear nothing at all!" Between modeling assignments, she studied acting with well-known coach Warren Robertson and, when movie-TV offers came in, she was ready. Universal was impressed by her performances on such series as "Police Story" (1973) and "Gibbsville" (1976) and signed her to a seven-year contract. Under that pact, the studio co-starred her as a tough-minded newspaper reporter in Irwin Shaw's Evening in Byzantium (1978) (TV). Her performance scored with both critics and audiences, and led directly to the role in "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" (1979). As a result, she has become a regular commuter between Hollywood and New York, the hub of the magazine and fashion world.
Filmography
77 credits
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
Movie • 1979
Col. Wilma Deering
Crowfoot
Movie • 1995
Nora
Hunter Prey
Movie • 2010
Clea
Six Pack
Movie • 1982
Lilah
Jane Doe: How to Fire Your Boss
Movie • 2007
Laura Sands
Official Denial
Movie • 1993
Annie Corliss
I Married Who?
Movie • 2012
Ethel Swift
Clover Bend
Movie • 2002
Beth Clayton
Addicted to His Love
Movie • 1988
Jenny Barrett
Perry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace
Movie • 1988
Captain Terry O'Malley
Laker Girls
Movie • 1990
Julie Lawrence
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday
Movie • 1993
Diana Kimble
Social Misfits
Movie • 2001
Sharon Cox
The Ultimate Impostor
Movie • 1979
Beatrice 'Bucky' Tate
Winter Kills
Movie • 1979
Beautiful Woman Three
Code of Vengeance
Movie • 1985
Nadine Flowers
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder
Movie • 2022
Brianna
Touched by a Killer
Movie • 2001
Liza Collins
A Perfect Christmas
Movie • 2016
Patricia Faber
Nesting
Movie • 2012
Mrs. Deegan
Dreams Awake
Movie • 2011
Hope Emrys
Ghouls
Movie • 2008
Liz
ManFast
Movie • 2003
Gloria Day
A Dangerous Place
Movie • 1994
Audrey
Coach of the Year
Movie • 1980
Paula DeFalco
Christmas in Palm Springs
Movie • 2014
Mayor Tomlin
T-Force
Movie • 1994
Mayor Pendleton
Nuclear Hurricane
Movie • 2007
Jane
The Last Producer
Movie • 2000
Dee Freeman
Honor Thy Father and Mother: The True Story of the Menendez Murders
Movie • 1994
Pamela Bozanich
Loaded
Movie • 2008
Susan Price
My Christmas Inn
Movie • 2018
Molly Anderson
Breaking Home Ties
Movie • 1987
Carol
Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th
Movie • 2013
Self
A Christmas Princess
Movie • 2019
Queen Alice
Finding Grace
Movie • 2020
Judge Ariel Harper
Evening in Byzantium
Movie • 1978
Gail McKinnon
Born Beautiful
Movie • 1982
Betsy Forrest
Four Days At Dragon*Con
Movie • 2011
Herself
Caught in the Headlights
Movie • 2005
Mrs. Jones
Serial Intentions
Movie • 2001
Virginia Madden
Siren
Movie • 2006
Sharon Cox
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: Planet of the Slave Girls
Movie • 1979
Colonel Wilma Deering
My True Self
Movie • 2008
Mrs. Ellen Fields
The NBC All Star Hour: Let's All Be There
Movie • 1985
Magnum, P.I.
TV • 1980
Joy 'Digger' Doyle
Murder, She Wrote
TV • 1984
Andrea Dean
B. J. and the Bear
TV • 1979
Evening Shade
TV • 1990
L.A. Law
TV • 1986
Rochelle Peters
Silver Spoons
TV • 1982
Kate Summers Stratton
Simon & Simon
TV • 1981
The Torkelsons
TV • 1991
Jennifer
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
TV • 1979
Wilma Deering
Hotel
TV • 1982
Profiler
TV • 1996
Congresswoman Karen Archer
Silk Stalkings
TV • 1991
Jake and the Fatman
TV • 1987
Hunter
TV • 1984
Kate Lawson
The Wedding Bells
TV • 2007
Candy Heller
The Fall Guy
TV • 1981
Battle of the Network Stars
TV • 1976
Vega$
TV • 1978
The New Lassie
TV • 1989
The Hitchhiker
TV • 1983
Leslie
Dark Justice
TV • 1991
Malibu U
TV • 1967
Self - Dancer
I Love the '70s: Volume 2
TV • 2006
Self
Renegade
TV • 1992
Baywatch
TV • 1989
Chief Monica Johnson
Mystery Science Theater 3000
TV • 2017
Martha Masters
The Rockford Files
TV • 1974
Margaret 'Alta' Hatch
Burke's Law
TV • 1994
Brenda Palmer
Pandora
TV • 2019
Captain Beth Grant
The Love Boat
TV • 1977
Maggie Cook
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
TV • 1962
Self
The Guild
TV • 2007
Madeleine Twain