SITTING DOWN WITH ACTOR
MICHAEL GROSS
L-R Michael Gross, in Our Father, as Burt Gummer in Tremors, with actress Meredith Baxter as Steve and Elyse Keaton in Family Ties
By Emmaly Wiederholt
FL: From your extensive acting career, what are a couple of your proudest moments?
During his 40 year career, actor Michael Gross, perhaps best known for his portrayal of father Steven Keaton on NBC’s award-winning Family Ties, has portrayed a remarkable range of characters, including recurring roles on the Drew Cary Show, ER and How I Met Your Mother. He also enjoys cult status for his portrayal of Burt Gummer in the feature film Tremors, and is currently producing and acting in a new web-series, Carbon Dating. When not in southern California, the actor and his wife enjoy spending time at their home in Santa Fe.
MG: One of them is a short film I did about a year ago entitled Our Father. It’s a 21 minute film about a man with late stage dementia. That’s the gentleman I play. It all takes place in a bathroom as his son is trying to put him to bed. There are a series of flashbacks that explain a lot of old family secrets in a very short amount of time. My grandmother and my mother-in-law had Alzheimer’s. In a way, the film feels like an homage to them. I’m very pleased with my work in it, and it’s one of the things that has made me very happy over the last couple years. The things that make me happiest are the departures from the ways I am seen most regularly. Having done a top five television show for seven years, it’s so easy to get identified with that, but I enjoy the variety of playing different sorts of characters. FL: What advice would you give to an aspiring actor or actress?
MG: I recommend good training. I went to acting school and learned technique. While you can certainly get by with raw talent, and you can learn on your feet if you’re lucky enough to get job after job, one of the reasons you see so many British actors in America is they are so much better trained. They have so many more tools in their kit. They take it more seriously than some young American actors who just want to be stars. FL: What drew you and your wife Elza to Santa Fe? MG: Two very different reasons. I’d always been attracted to the Southwest, because even though I grew up in Chicago, my grandfather (who lived in Iowa), worked for 56 years for the Santa Fe Railway. I grew up seeing the travel posters of Hopi and Navajo land. I became fascinated. My wife lived and worked in Morocco in the Peace Corps. A lot of Santa Fe’s architecture is very similar to what you might find in Morocco, Algeria and Libya. The Arab
and Spanish influence has a Moorish look, which is reflected in Santa Fe. When we were dating some 30 years ago, we took a trip to Santa Fe, and said, “Oh my gosh, this feels like home.” But for two entirely different reasons. FL: What’s your relationship with the railroad and the Rail Runner? MG: When the Santa Fe Railway was considering divesting itself of the Lamy Branch, a number of others and I thought it should be saved. They were going to sell the land to developers or adjoining ranch owners. What I was thinking back then is precisely what has happened now: The Rail Runner. I knew someday we’d need public transportation from Albuquerque to Santa Fe, and if we got rid of the rightof-way, it would never happen. A good chunk of our land into town was bought and refurbished for the Rail Runner. In some ways, I’m satisfied, because what I wanted has been done.