Benji Gregory, the child actor who starred in the 1980s sitcom “ALF,” has died at the age of 46, according to his sister.
Gregory was found dead, along with his service dog, in his car on June 13, his sister Rebecca Hertzberg-Pfaffinger wrote on Facebook.
His vehicle was in a bank parking lot in Peoria, Arizona, The New York Times reported. Hertzberg-Pfaffinger said the family believes he went there the evening of June 12 to deposit some residual checks found in his vehicle, but “never got out of the car to do so.”
“He fell asleep and died from vehicular heatstroke,” she wrote.
At the time, Arizona was in the midst of a heat wave, with a high of 108 recorded June 12 and 111 recorded June 13, according to AccuWeather.
“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,” his sister wrote.
Maricopa County medical examiner records show he died June 13, but the manner of death and primary cause of death are pending.
Gregory was known for playing the bright-eyed Brian Tanner on “ALF,” which aired from 1986 to 1990. The show followed the story of a furry alien dubbed ALF — short for “Alien Life Form” — from the planet Melmac, who crash-landed into the Tanners’ garage in California and was taken in by the family.
Gregory was born Benjamin Gregory Hertzberg in Encino, California, on May 26, 1978, according to his IMDb profile. He grew up on camera, appearing in commercials, and went on to guest-star on shows like “The A-Team” and “The Twilight Zone,” and appeared in the movies like the 1986 film “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” with Whoopi Goldberg and the 1991 movie “Never Forget.”
However, he stopped acting around the end of the ’90s. He went on to join the U.S. Navy, serving at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi, his IMDb profile said.
His sister told the Times he lived with bipolar disorder and depression and had received care for both.