MAY ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: GREGORY CUMMINS (Class of 1974) 
A MATADOR’S PATH FROM COLLEGE ATHLETICS TO HOLLYWOOD

Please tell us a little about yourself and your history with Miramonte High School? 

GC: My family moved to Orinda in 1960 when I was 4 years old.  My father and mother moved here to build the original Moraga Country Club in 1961 located directly above St. Mary’s.  My dad was the right hand attorney for Howard Hughes and my mom worked by Hughes’ side leading human resources and as his personal assistant.  I am the oldest of 4 boys, all of whom attended Miramonte, including Doug (‘75), Dave (‘78), and Mike (‘80). 

The original Moraga Country Club had started excavation with my dad as majority owner and president and my mom as VP, but my dad came down with stage 4 throat cancer after ground broke, and they had to pull the plug on the project.  My mom then had to go to work to keep us in our Orinda home, opening up Better Homes Realty in the late 1960’s.  I got three paper routes for the Contra Costa Times (The Green Sheet) at 9 years old to 17, and contributed half of my money to my mom for working so hard to keep us living in such a great area with such great schools.  

Can you tell us what you’ve been up to since high school, for those who might not know?  

GC: I have been acting professionally in film, TV, and theatre for the last 41 years.  Baseball was my first love, and I had dreamed about being in the major leagues all my childhood.  Just before the end of high school, I was drafted by the Oakland A’s in the 10th round, but chose not to go, and decided to attend college instead.  After graduating from Miramonte in the Class of ’74 (Go Matadors!), I turned down baseball scholarships from UOP and San Jose State,  and instead chose to attend Cal-Berkeley on a football scholarship from 1974-’77.  

I became the starting punter on Cal’s ’74 & ’75 teams, my frosh and sophomore years, and then after the preseason games of ’76 my junior year, I red-shirted that season (which means I sat out the Pac-8 league games) retaining my two more years of eligibility.  It was in college that I began taking acting and theatre classes which I enjoyed immensely, and it was then that I thought I might like to pursue acting someday after a professional athletic career. 

I then transferred to the University of Hawaii-Manoa for my final two years of eligibility to play football for the 1977 & ’78 seasons and had an amazing two years. I got even more involved in acting, theatre, and directing doing lead roles in main stage productions there as well as continuing my college studies.  My move into professional football, however, hit some snags and was shorter than I had hoped for. A missed training camp opportunity with the Green Bay Packers in 1979 caused me to sit out a year, and in 1980, I tore my right thigh muscle at the San Diego Chargers training camp which forced them to release me.  I was then a 25 year old rookie, so I chose to make the move into acting. I returned to Cal-Berkeley to finish my undergraduate degree– and then applied and was accepted into UCLA’s MFA Acting program (1983-85).

How did you break into acting? 

GC: After finishing my MFA at UCLA, I auditioned and got hired by a professional repertory theatre called P.C.P.A Theaterfest in Solvang/Santa Maria. This was my first professional acting job.  We rotated the plays Amadeus and Hamlet.  Once I realized that to make a living year-round in theatre required an outstanding singing voice, because the majority of the plays in professional theatre were musicals, I made the decision to return to Los Angeles and pursue film and television roles.  

I started out getting non-union small budget films to build my portfolio and eventually got an agent who could help move me into higher quality projects.  After about 7 or 8 films over the first year and a half, it worked.  I had built up a reel with many varied roles, contacted agents, and eventually found someone who believed in me.  My goal was just to be able to make a living at something I loved to do.  And I feel very fortunate to have been able to do that for 41 years now.  

Can you share some of the tv/film work that you have done? 

GC: Over the last 10 years, I've played a recurring guest star role (Crate of the detective team Crate & Barrel) on a series and spin off called Bosch & Bosch: Legacy which stream on Amazon Prime.  I've also had another recurring guest star role playing Luther (Mac's Dad) for the last 16 years on a show called It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia on FXX.  

In the early years as I was starting out, I played a lot of lead good guy and bad guy roles in a bunch of low budget 80's action films.  Over time, I kept getting bad guy roles in medium budget and bigger budget films like Cliffhanger, Batman Returns, and Italian Job, and others. I have also played bad guys and other character parts in many tv episodes and guest starring roles.

What would you say is your greatest professional/personal accomplishment?

GC: I was given the gift of being able to care for my mom through her last 20 years as her health declined.  She did so much to raise us 4 boys on her own, working 110 hour weeks for 24 years straight to keep us in Orinda and going to such great schools and in such a great neighborhood.  To be given the opportunity to even come close to repaying that in her time of need was the gift of a lifetime. 

Did you take Miramonte drama courses or participate in Miramonte theater? 

GC: Although I took drama classes at Inland Valley Intermediate and I played Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, I wasn’t able to take drama in high school because the only way I was going to be able to afford college was to get an athletic scholarship.  Drama was after school so that conflicted with after school sports. So in high school I focused on what I really loved, and that was sports: baseball, football, track, a couple years of basketball. My senior year I was Block M President (the Athletic Association).  We raised money for the sports programs and gave out the athletic letters to the athletes. 

Can you tell us about your experiences playing on the Miramonte Football Team?

GC: Yes! Our 1973 Miramonte Matadors!  F.A.L. Champions and #1 All-Eastbay Championship Football Team!!!!!  Wonderful memories!  There weren’t divisions then so we weren’t the largest school.  In the final Turkey Bowl we had a total of 27 players, most playing both ways, against an Antioch team that had about 65 suited players for the bowl game.  

But we were so well coached by the great Tom Strain (head football and baseball coach at the time at Miramonte), and we had a lot of really talented, tough, and smart athletes.  We were so prepared, and we were such a cohesive team. We had great victories that season and created some amazing memories. 

As I look back on it, team sports like football or baseball prepared me more for the world than anything else.  I never realized when I was playing all those sports, how useful those lessons would be in life: How to work hard with specific goals, how to overcome obstacles positively, how to be honorable and fair, and how to be humble when you’re successful.  I learned you can achieve just about anything you want if you’re willing to work hard enough.  As my mom always said since I was a kid, “If you think you can, or can’t, you’re right!”  Good advice.  I still use it to this day. It has served me well.

How have you stayed connected or involved with Miramonte and the alumni community?

GC: After I graduated, I only stayed in touch with a couple of my closest friends from high school, but then I heard about this informal gathering of classmates at the 30 year reunion mark, and I went to it.  I was so excited to see all these friends that I was so close to for so many years that I had completely lost touch with.  We didn’t have the internet, we didn’t have cell phones, so it was easy to lose touch.  

From then on, I started to get involved with some former classmates to help with the class reunions. One friend,  Margot (Keenan) Woodward, and I started looking for classmates so they could have the same experience that I had.  We created this informal reunion committee and only had about 75 contacts at that informal 30th reunion, from a graduating class of roughly 340 people.  So we spent years and years on and off just looking for people and keeping their updated contact info.  We had a 35th reunion, a 40th, a 45th reunion and just finished our incredible 50th reunion last October 2024.  It was amazing.  

I’d say to current students to appreciate your time at Miramonte.  Life gets much much harder.  And make an effort to stay in contact with friends from your youth.  It will be very rewarding.  

Is there anything else about yourself or your time at Miramonte that you would like to share? 

GC: I truly cherish the lifelong friendships I had back at Miramonte and from my earlier youth that I still have now. But I also cherish the relationships I have developed through the years with classmates I barely knew in my high school days but who I have reconnected with through our reunions.  We had a great class with a lot of amazing people.  And I feel blessed to be a part of it. Class of ’74 Rules!  Go Matadors!!!!!

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