Michael Gross

Michael Gross spent seven years as the gentle, liberal father on a hit family sitcom and then built a second career as a gun-loving survivalist who fights giant underground worms. The two roles could hardly be further apart, and he has said so himself. He is 79 as of 5 November 2026: he was born in Chicago on 21 June 1947 [1] [9].

Chicago, the railroad and Yale

Gross was born Michael Edward Gross [2]. His father, William Oscar Gross, was a tool designer and his mother, Virginia Ruth, a telephone operator [1]. His sister is the actress and comedienne Mary Gross [1].

He took a bachelor's degree in speech and theater at the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle in 1970 [1] [2]. One detail that surprises people who know only the actor: he worked in engine service for the Chicago & North Western Railway [1]. The interest in trains never left him. An NBC News slideshow still describes him as an avid model train enthusiast [11].

Acting training followed at the Yale School of Drama, where he earned a master of fine arts in 1973 [1]. Robert "Beny" Benedetti, who later founded the New Mexico Actors Lab, taught him at Yale, according to a 2024 profile [5]. From 1973 to 1976 Gross was a company member at Actors Theatre of Louisville in Kentucky [1].

Stage first, then television

His screen debut came in 1975 in the TV movie A Girl Named Sooner, where he played Jim Seevey [2] [10]. The theatre carried more weight in those years. In 1979 he originated the role of Greta in the Broadway premiere of Bent, and the work brought him a Drama Desk Award nomination for outstanding featured actor in a play in 1980 [3] [1]. In 1980 he was also on Broadway in The Philadelphia Story as Alexander Lord [3].

In 1982 he won an Obie Award from the Village Voice for the off-Broadway play No End of Blame [1] [2]. A DramaLogue Award followed in 1986 for The Real Thing [1]. The same year as the Obie, he took a part in the TV movie The Neighborhood as Jack Wolfe [10], and he began the role that would define the next decade of his life.

Steven Keaton in Family Ties

Family Ties ran on NBC from 1982 to 1989, and Gross played the father, Steven Keaton [1]. The character, a former hippie who ran a local television station, was married to Elyse, played by Meredith Baxter [6] [12]. TMDB counts 168 episodes of the series, while Gross himself told Entertainment Tonight in 2022 that the show reached about 175 [9] [6]. The two figures differ, and we give both.

He had only a handful of television credits before the role [6]. The part gave him a lasting public image, and in 2004 TV Guide ranked Steven Keaton among the fifty greatest television fathers of all time [1]. He and Baxter have stayed friends for roughly forty years [6], and Baxter has said that their families have taken trips together [12].

Burt Gummer and the Tremors films

The role most readers search for is Burt Gummer. Tremors arrived in 1990, and Gross played the survivalist in it [10] [9]. In a 2020 interview he said his first reaction to the script was "This is a mistake", because after seven years as a sweet, liberal father the part seemed a stretch [7]. The film was not a blockbuster. By his account it stayed in theaters about a week [7].

Burt grew anyway. Gross has said he always thought the character worked best on the edge of the story [8]. Sequels and a television series followed over three decades. In 2020, a reporter wrote that he had played Burt for 30 years across the original film and six sequels [7].

Best-known work

The table below gives credits that appear in TMDB and Fandango listings, with years as those listings give them.

Year	Title	Role
1975	A Girl Named Sooner (TV movie)	Jim Seevey [10]
1979	Bent (Broadway)	Greta [3]
1982 to 1989	Family Ties (NBC)	Steven Keaton [1] [9]
1990	Tremors	Burt Gummer [10]
1991	Cool as Ice	Gordon Winslow [10]
1992	Alan & Naomi	Sol Silverman [10]
1996	Tremors 2: Aftershocks	Burt Gummer [9]
1999	Batman Beyond: The Movie	Warren McGinnis (voice) [9]
2000	ER (6 episodes)	Jack Carter [9]
2001	Tremors 3: Back to Perfection	Burt Gummer [9]
2003	Tremors (TV series)	Burt Gummer [9]
2004	Tremors 4: The Legend Begins	Hiram Gummer [9]
2006	How I Met Your Mother (3 episodes)	Alfred Mosby [9]
2015	Tremors 5: Bloodlines	Burt Gummer [9]
2018	Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell	Burt Gummer [9]
2020	Tremors: Shrieker Island	Burt Gummer [9] [7]
2024	Chosen Family	Alfred [10]
2024	The Merry Gentlemen	Stan [9]

Outside this list, he played a recurring character on the soap The Young and the Restless through 2009 and guest-starred on Law & Order [11]. In 2000 he returned to Broadway in Macbeth as Ross [3].

Awards

The recognition on record is split between stage and genre film.

• Drama Desk Award nomination, 1980, for Bent [1] [3].
• Obie Award, 1982, for No End of Blame [1].
• DramaLogue Award, 1986, for The Real Thing [1].
• Video Premiere Award for best actor, and a DVD Exclusive Award for best actor, 2001, for Tremors 3: Back to Perfection [1] [2].
• American Hero Award for charitable work [1].

Relationships

Gross married the casting director Elza Bergeron on 2 June 1984 [1]. TV Guide gives the year as 1984 as well [2], and a 2024 BroadwayWorld article describes her as his wife and a former casting director [4]. We found no public reporting on earlier relationships, and we do not guess at them.

On children, sources are not identical. Encyclopedia.com lists two stepchildren, Katharine "Katie" Burkhardt and Theodore "Theo" Burkhardt, and no biological children [1]. TV Guide says the couple has two children [2]. A 2022 Yahoo feature also says he became stepfather to Bergeron's children and mentions no biological children [6]. We follow the more detailed entry and note the difference.

He has supported causes including animal welfare, AIDS research, ALS research and aid to Southwestern Native American tribes [2], and he has been a spokesperson for the ALS Association [1].

Home and work today

Gross has lived part-time in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for more than 30 years with his wife [4]. A 2024 profile also places him in Southern California, about two hours from Baxter [5]. He began painting in New Mexico in 1990 [1], and the same entry lists him as part owner of the Santa Fe Southern Railway, a stake we could not confirm as current [1].

On stage he still works with Baxter. In April 2024 the pair performed Lanford Wilson's Talley's Folly as a staged reading at the Lab Theater in Santa Fe, a benefit for the New Mexico Actors Lab, with performances on 11 to 14 April [4] [5]. They did it for free, and it was the third year they had opened the lab's season with a two-person reading [5]. He also appears at horror-film conventions [5]. TMDB lists the 2025 title Dada Knows Best among his recent credits [9].

Net worth and height

Celebrity Net Worth, a tracking site, lists his net worth as $6 million and his height as 6 ft 3 in (1.9 m) on its profile page. The site says its figures come from public sources and are estimates [13]. We found no estimate from Forbes or a comparable outlet, so treat the number as rough.