Michael Gross is 79 years old today. He was born on 21 June 1947.
In the late 1980s, we thought we would always remember Gross as the wise liberal father Steven Keaton in the TV series Family Ties. Today? Not so much! Now we know and love him for the Tremors franchise. He plays Burt Gummer, a crazy prepper. He is the series.
But Gummer didn’t start out as the main character. Frankly, he’s too interesting for that. He added color in the first two films. It was only in the third that he became the star. And sure, you could say this is due to Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward leaving after the first and second films. But Ward only left because the producers wanted to focus on Gummer. And that’s because the audience wanted that.
(For the record, I love Fred Ward. He’s great in these films. And check him out in Cast a Deadly Spell.)
And Michael Gross relishes the role. He has starred in seven films and fantasized about an eighth. He also starred in all of the 13 episodes of the TV show that is supposed to follow the third film.
But he has taken an unusual career path. Gross generally played characters that were closer to Steven Keaton. He was often cast as fathers and white-collar workers. Like Adrienne Barbeau, his intelligence shines through on screen. But that’s one characteristic that Gummer does share.
Gummer is different, emotionally. He is unhinged! Gross usually played reasonable and understated characters. So the producers were definitely casting Gross against type. And it works wonderfully!
If you haven’t seen the Tremors films, I recommend watching Tremors 3: Back to Perfection. But all of the first four films are worth watching. The fifth film is very weak and the sixth is okay but shows all the signs of franchise fatigue.
But 2020 brought us a seventh film, Tremors: Shrieker Island, that I somehow missed. So let’s watch it!
Other 21 June Anniversaries
Filmmakers
- Mariette Hartley (1940-): Actor known for Ride the High Country and The Return of Count Yorga.
- Joe Flaherty (1941-2024): Actor known for SCTV and small roles in a number of notable films.
- Tony Scott (1944-2012): Director of big action films like Enemy of the State.
- Meredith Baxter (1947-): Not really a psychotronic actor but I think it’s interesting she was born on the same day as Michael Gross.
- Lana Wachowski (1965-): The older of the siblings known for writing and directing The Matrix and Speed Racer.
- Juliette Lewis (1973-): Actor known for Cape Fear, Natural Born Killers, and From Dusk till Dawn — among others.
Films
- The Black Camel (1931): Charlie Chan mystery.
- The Ghost Breakers (1940): Bob Hope in a haunted castle.
- Frenzy (1972): Open mystery involving a serial killer from Hitchcock
- Son of Blob (1972): Comedic sequel to The Blog.
- Cocoon (1985): Old people regain vigor with contact with space aliens.
- Lifeforce (1985): Excellent space vampire film.
- The Rocketeer (1991): Retro super hero film.
- Minority Report (2002): Crimes are solved before they occur, but then the system is used on its practitioner.
- 2001 Maniacs (2006): Unfortunate remake of Two Thousand Maniacs!
Michael Gross/ by Rob DiCaterino under CC BY 2.0.