Birthday profile

Mike Gray

Mike Gray, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2013)

Born
October 26, 1935
Died
April 30, 2013
Zodiac sign
Scorpio
Birth year
1935

About Mike Gray

Harold Michael Gray (October 26, 1935 – April 30, 2013) was an American writer, screenwriter, cinematographer, film producer and director. == Career == === Film and TV === In 1965, Mike Gray and Jim Dennett co-founded The Film Group, a Chicago film production company. In 1968, the pair along with editor Howard Alk, produced the award-winning documentary American Revolution 2 (1969), followed by the trio's The Murder of Fred Hampton (1971). The Film Group was also behind the seven part educational series, "Urban Crisis and the New Militants", consisting primarily of footage shot during the production of American Revolution 2 but also includes footage of Chicago Black Panthers members (including future Congressman Bobby Rush) and a 1966 Civil Rights march in Cicero, Illinois. This series can be streamed on Chicago Film Archives' website and Chicago Film Archives's channel on YouTube. After moving to California, Gray shot The Gift (1973), a documentary about the life and art of Marc Chagall then co-wrote, with T. S. Cook and James Bridges, the screenplay for the nuclear thriller The China Syndrome (1979), which film became notable for opening 12 days before the Three Mile Island accident (nuclear reactor meltdown). He also wrote and directed Wavelength (1983), an independent science fiction film starring Robert Carradine, Cherie Currie, and Keenan Wynn, with a soundtrack by Tangerine Dream. Gray next co-created the television series Starman (1986–87). Following Starman, he became series writer/producer for the 1988–89 season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Gray was a second unit director on The Fugitive (1993) and acted as Swizlard in Chain Reaction (1996).

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Mike Gray timeline

  1. In 1965, Mike Gray and Jim Dennett co-founded The Film Group, a Chicago film production company.
  2. Gray next co-created the television series Starman (1986–87).

The world when Mike Gray was born

Mike Gray was born in 1935. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1935

  • #1 song"Cheek to Cheek" – Fred Astaire
  • Top movieMutiny on the Bounty
  • Best-selling bookGreen Light - Lloyd C. Douglas

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentJesse Owens sets 3 world records in 45 minutes at Big Ten meet
  • Top headlineSocial Security Act signed into law by FDR
  • Technology milestoneRadar first demonstrated
  • Defining fadMonopoly officially released by Parker Brothers
  • Notable inventionBeer in cans
  • World population2.23 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
  • Sports championDetroit Tigers (World Series)
  • U.S. population127.3M

1935 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Mike Gray's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19352026
Gas$0.19$3.45/gal
Average home$5,000$435,000
Average income$2,700$67,500
Minimum wage$0.25$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population127.3M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, IMDb, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.