Gil was cast as a leading role in the daytime soap opera The Doctors (1963). He formed his own production company in partnership with a writer-producer, co-authored a screenplay called Hooch (1977), and filmed it as a starring vehicle for himself. With "Hooch" completed, he was summoned to California to co-star with Yvette Mimieux in Ransom for Alice! (1977) and to play Lee Grant's youthful lover in Universal's Airport '77 (1977). A guest shot on Little House on the Prairie (1974) impressed producer-star Michael Landon, who cast him in the leading role in an ambitious television movie, Killing Stone (1978). He signed for his best known role as Captain Buck Rogers in the television series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979).