The actor nodes in wireless sensor and actor network (WSAN) are responsible for receiving the perceived data, processing and collaborating with each other. In most scenarios, maintaining the connectivity of the interactor network is necessary to plan the optimal coordinated response. However, actors are vulnerable to damage due to their limited energy and harsh environment. At worst, such failure can split the interactor network, which is affecting network performance. To restore the network connectivity, the existing methods replace the failed node by selecting a redundant node in the network. Multiple nodes may be involved in moving from the redundant node to the failed node, thus forming a repair path. However, the repair paths generated by such methods are often not optimal. In this paper, we use the gradient generation and diffusion mechanism to restore the connectivity of the interactor network and propose a gradient-based distributed connectivity recovery (GDCR) algorithm. GDCR selects an optimal repair path from the global network based on the generated gradient distribution under fully distributed and localized conditions. GDCR can timely respond to the repair and minimize the recovery range and movement overhead. Simulation results verify the performance of the proposed algorithm.