Michael Gross Charms on and Off Screen
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LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE 2018 showcase house design THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 2018 VOL. 21 NO. 17 page 25 Michael Leininger Honored Gross for Service to City By Mirjam Swanson Charms The Outlook ike Leininger challenged On and Off Mthe 110 people who came to lunch Wednesday, including grandsons Jeff and Johnny, to Screen get involved in their commu- nity, citing a saying he learned By Zane Hill as a coach at Bellflower High The Outlook School: “What you do will speak so loudly,” he said, “I can’t hear a word you’re saying.” epending on the time of Photo courtesy Universal Pictures Leininger’s actions since Dyear, you can find him in La Cañada Flintridge resident Michael Gross stars in “Tremors: A Cold moving to La Cañada Flintridge the bleachers at La Cañada High Day in Hell,” the sixth film in the franchise, due for release May 1. He has 30 years ago this month with his School volleyball matches or on embraced his fan-favorite character, who is a supporting or lead character family have spoken volumes. set in a South African desert. in every film in the franchise as well as the TV series. Several accounts were shared by In between, you might happen fellow community leaders during to see Michael Gross ordering “Family Ties” and Burt Gummer That he spent seven seasons the Noon Kiwanis Club of La Ca- his decaf cappuccino from Con- from the cult-favorite “Tremors” in that role made it all the more ñada’s annual La Cañadan of the Photo by Mirjam Swanson / OUTLOOK stellation Coffee on Foothill franchise. confusing to Gross when he was Year recognition luncheon at Boulevard, or possibly at a local “I was one of America’s fa- contacted about being cast in Descanso Gardens’ Van de Kamp Longtime La Cañada Flintridge Planning Commission meeting vorite fathers,” the La Cañada “Tremors.” Gummer, who was a Hall. resident and educator Mike Leini- regarding a development in his Flintridge resident observed, re- supporting character to Kevin Ba- For 26 years, Leininger was a nger encouraged his audience to neighborhood. In his round flecting on his career as an actor con’s Val McKee and Fred Ward’s member of the La Cañada Unified find ways to give back as he was glasses and absent facial hair, you while waiting for his cappuccino Earl Basset, was a gun enthusiast School District, moving up the recognized by the Noon Kiwanis may have to double-take to rec- to cool off. “I was sort of this be- and survivalist who lived in his ranks as a La Cañada High School Club as La Cañadan of the Year on ognize him as the actor behind nign, sort of left-wing, liberal guy. Wednesday at Descanso Gardens’ Steven Keaton from the sitcom He wore his heart on his sleeve.” See GROSS, page 35 See LEININGER, page 17 Van de Kamp Hall. LCF’s Tsujihara to Receive USC Alumni Merit Award a Cañada Flintridge resident Land Warner Bros. chairman and CEO Kevin Tsujihara will be one of three recipients of the Alumni Merit Award in the USC Alumni Association’s 85th an- nual USC Alumni Awards this month. Tsujihara, who took over Warner Bros. in 2013 to become Photo by Zane Hill / OUTLOOK the first Asian-American head of Senior Ethan Crane rallies fellow La Cañada High School students last Friday for a walkout in observance of the a major motion picture studio, 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting. grew up in Petaluma, where his parents, who are Japanese im- migrants, owned an egg dis- LCHS Students Walk Out, Kevin Tsujihara See TSUJIHARA, page 17 Observe Columbine Massacre By Zane Hill gregants of La Cañada Congre- LCHS senior Ethan Crane, who The Outlook gational Church met them with helped to lead the walkout. “It sandwiches, snacks, refresh- was incredible to see actual vic- ments and, perhaps most im- tims speaking out and wanting bout 30 La Cañada High portantly, support. The walkout substantive change in policy after ASchool students joined their was a follow-up to nationwide the horrific events in Parkland. peers nationwide on Friday in observances at schools on March “We realized our voice mat- staging a walkout from school in 14, a month after 17 students ters,” he added. “It’s been de- observance of the 19th anniver- and adults were killed during a cades since we’ve had anything Permit No. 261 No. Permit Pasadena, CA Pasadena, sary of the massacre at Colum- shooting at Stoneman Douglas going in the right direction for the U.S. POSTAGE PAID POSTAGE U.S. bine High School. High School in Parkland, Florida. gun violence discussion.” PRSRT STD PRSRT The group marched from “I think most of us are in agree- LCHS did have to formally LCHS starting at 10 a.m. Friday ment that, since Feb. 14, that we to Memorial Park, where con- have been empowered,” said See WALKOUT, page 14 La Cañada Flintridge Outlook COMMUNITY Thursday, April 26, 2018 35 GROSS the approach to heart. “It was wonderful,” Baxter contd. from page 1 “I was right around her age said during a phone interview. when he stepped into my life, so “I don’t remember how many with her growing up, it was sort times we had performed this to- fortified desert compound with of his first time being around gether. Sometimes it’s a one- or his wife, Heather (played by Reba younger kids,” she said. “They two-performance fundraiser or McEntire). They and the handful have a good, close relationship. it’s a short run somewhere, but of other residents in their tiny He cracks her up. He always gets it’s been many, many times over desert town (the fictional Perfec- her talking. She isn’t just a sullen many years. It’s like finding an old tion, Nevada) become the target teenager around him.” pair of pants.” prey of monstrous prehistoric Budde said she usually finds Baxter said she and Gross have worm-like creatures — named out about her stepfather’s latest kept up a jovial disagreement “graboids” — who hunt by tun- role whenever friends mention about the first time they met for neling underground. seeing him on an episode of “Family Ties.” “I looked at the script and something, although the whole “He thought we met when we thought, ‘This has to be a mis- family recently screened “A Cold did the opening sequences for take,’” Gross explained, laughing Day in Hell” together. the title that we shot out at the Ar- at the memory. “This was just “That was a whole bunch of boretum [in Arcadia],” she said. “I goofy fun, and I thought, ‘Why fun, to see him in the audience think we’d already done the pilot. not?’” and watch him on-screen,” she I just remember meeting him and After the first film’s theatrical said. “He’s not that character in saying something like ‘You need a release in 1990, the franchise real life, but he’s had a hell of a lot tan.’ I loved him immediately. He spawned a sequel with Gross re- of fun playing him.” was just my dearest friend for the turning as a supporting character Budde added that she and her whole time we shot that show.” before Burt Gummer became the husband made the deliberate de- Baxter and Gross happen to central character in third, fourth cision to remain local when they share the exact same birthdate, and fifth direct-to-DVD releases Photo courtesy Michael Gross got married. which they co-celebrated once in (a sequel, prequel and another se- The ’80s sitcom “Family Ties” introduced Michael Gross as Steven Keaton, “His parents are here and my London while filming the made- quel, respectively). A short-lived alongside Meredith Baxter as wife Elyse Keaton. The two, who share the parents are here and both of us for-TV “Family Ties Vacation.” TV series ran on the SyFy channel exact birth date, continue to periodically put on stage productions of “Love grew up with our grandparents As their friendship continued with Gross as the lead and the Letters” for short runs. on the East Coast, so we made after “Family Ties” ended, Baxter sixth film, subtitled “A Cold Day the choice to give our children said she watched Gross become in Hell,” is due for release on DVD point on, Gummer settles into couple of decades been a serial the wonderful opportunities to the upstanding family man he is and Blu-ray on May 1. his newfound raison d'être as guest star on television series for spend with their grandparents,” today. Although the first film didn’t the world’s leading expert on handfuls of episodes at a time. she said. “He made a real impact on exactly shatter box office records, handling outbreaks of the preda- “Had I wanted steady work, I Gross seems thankful for that all of his kids,” she said. “He’s a its home release and the subse- tory creatures. (Humorously, he would have done something else decision. lovely man. He’s such a warm, quent direct-release films helped also must ensure the residents for a living,” he said. “I never ex- “What I’ll remember on my generous and tender guy. He lis- establish the cult following that of Perfection co-exist with the pected to do steady work. I like deathbed — a great volleyball tens. He’s a show-up guy. What continues nearly three decades remaining graboids nearby be- freelancing. I very much enjoy game of my granddaughter’s or better character can you have in later.