Burt Gummer

Bertram (Burt) Gummer (1955-2020) is the main protagonist of the Tremors franchise, played by actor Michael Gross. Although he is not the main character of the first two Tremors movies, his eccentric personality has made him a favorite among Tremors fans and the de-facto star of the franchise, along with the vicious Graboids. Burt appears as a minor character in Tremors, the tritagonist of Tremors 2: Aftershocks, and the main protagonist of Tremors 3: Back to Perfection, Tremors: The Series, Tremors 5: Bloodlines, Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell, and Tremors: Shrieker Island. Burt's ancestor, Hiram Gummer (also played by Gross), appears in Tremors 4: The Legend Begins. Burt Gummer is a firearms enthusiast, and a paranoid survivalist. He and his (as of Tremors 2) former wife, Heather Gummer (played by Reba McEntire), were the first persons in the film series to directly kill a Graboid thanks to the large supply of weapons kept in their basement. He has an "overkill" approach to trouble and takes himself deadly seriously, much to the annoyance or amusement of others. Even Earl Basset noted that Burt puts "a whole new shine" on the meaning of overkill; Burt retorted: "When you need it and don't have it, you'll be singing a different tune." According to Tyler Reed, he is the "Martha Stewart of whatever it is" that he does.