Three months after the passing of ALF star Benji Gregory at 46, the cause of his death has been made public. Gregory was discovered in his car in Peoria, Arizona, on June 13. The Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner confirmed that he succumbed to environmental heat exposure in the setting of hepatic cirrhosis. The death was ruled accidental.
The actor along with his service dog were found dead in his car on June 13th. Rebecca Hertzberg-Pfaffinger, his older sister, recently shared news of his death in a Facebook post. “It is with a heavy heart my family has suffered a loss way too early,” she wrote of Gregory. “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.” She continued, “My brother Ben was found in his car, along with his beloved service dog Hans, deceased on June 13. 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.”
Gregory was found in his car in the parking lot of a Chase Bank located in Peoria, Arizona. The temperature rose as high at 109 degrees that day. His sister spoke with TMZ where she revealed that Gregory faced depression, bipolar disorder and a sleep disorder that kept him awake for days. The Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office told ABC7 Los Angeles that his cause of death is still pending.
The late actor was best known for his role as Brian Tanner in the 80s sitcom, “ALF.” Gregory starred in 101 episodes of the show from 1986 to 1990. In 2018, Warner Bros. shared that they were in the early stages of creating a reboot of the sitcom, however those plans were cancelled that same year after failing to find a home for the project. In February, Shout! Factory announced that it had acquired the rights to ALF and would be developing new related content.