If you’re of a certain age, you’re probably familiar with ALF a show about an alien of the same name from the planet Melmac with a hunger for cats, but also the ability to love them. The show ran from 1986 to 1990 and at one point was one of the most popular series on the NBC lineup at the time. One of the show’s stars, Benji Gregory, recently passed away. Let’s take a look at his net worth.
In the show, ALF, an acronym for “Alien Life Form” (ALF’s real name was the strangely normal Gordon Shumway) crash-landed in the garage of the suburban Tanner family. Gregory played Brian Tanner, the young son of the family. The family’s patriarch was Willie Tanner, played by George Edward Wright. Wright passed away in 2019.
Gregory was a child actor in a family of them; his dad, uncle and sister all were actors. It really was a family business, as his grandmother was his agent. In addition to ALF, Gregory appeared in other popular shows and movies at the time, including Fantastic Max, Pound Puppies, Murphy Brown, The A-Team, T.J. Hooker, The Twilight Zone and Jumpin’ Jack Flash.
Gregory also had a recurring role in the popular ’80s show Punky Brewster as an orphan named Dash. His last acting role was providing the voice for Edgar the Mole in the 1993 animated movie Once Upon a Forest. Following his acting career, Gregory enlisted in the Navy and worked his way up to aerographer’s mate, assigned to the USS Carl Vinson. He was honorably discharged in 2005 after an illness.
Gregory was found dead in his car with his service dog in the parking lot of a bank in Peoria, Arizona on June 13. According to his sister Rebecca Pfaffinger, the family didn’t want to announce the death right away so they could have time to mourn. She elaborated in a Facebook post: “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.” He was 46 years old.
“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.”
As per his net worth, is estimated to be between $500k and a few million dollars. Considering his circumstances, it was probably closer to the former.