Randolph Mantooth, whose role as paramedic John Gage on the NBC series “Emergency!” helped introduce Americans to the profession of paramedicine, died Thursday at a hospice facility in Ventura, California. He was 80.
His brother, Donald Mantooth, told The Hollywood Reporter the actor had been ill for a number of years. TMZ reported he had battled several cancers beginning with throat cancer, a toll his family said his body could no longer withstand.
Born Sept. 19, 1945, in Sacramento, Mantooth was the oldest of four children in a family of Cherokee, Seminole, German and English descent that moved frequently for his father’s construction engineering work. He discovered acting in student productions at San Marcos High School in Santa Barbara, then studied at Santa Barbara City College before earning a scholarship to New York’s American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where he won the Charles Jehliger Award, one of the school’s top honors. While performing in a New York production of “Philadelphia, Here I Come!,” he was discovered by Universal Studios talent scout Eleanor Kilgallen, who signed him and brought him to Los Angeles in 1970.
He built his résumé with guest roles on “Ironside,” “The Virginian” and “Marcus Welby, M.D.” before producer Robert A. Cinader spotted him in a courtroom breakdown scene opposite Hal Holbrook on “The Bold Ones: The Senator.” Cinader reportedly turned to a colleague and said, “That is my Johnny Gage.” Mantooth landed the role in 1972 opposite Kevin Tighe, and the pair spent six seasons responding to accidents as Squad 51 paramedics, performing most of their own stunts and training alongside real Los Angeles County Fire Department personnel to authentically portray the then-unfamiliar profession.
Mantooth later reprised Gage on “Adam-12” and voiced an animated version of the character on the Saturday morning cartoon “Emergency+4.” In 2012, the Los Angeles County Fire Department named Mantooth and Tighe honorary fire chiefs for their contributions to public awareness of emergency medicine.
Mantooth built a substantial second act in daytime television, appearing on “General Hospital,” “One Life to Live” and “As the World Turns,” and playing two separate stints as Clay Alden and Alex Masters on ABC’s “Loving.” His screen work later included “Sons of Anarchy” and the films “He Was a Quiet Man” and “Bold Native.”
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Mantooth spoke often about a personal connection to emergency services, recalling in a Television Academy interview that paramedics saved his life in the 1970s after diagnosing carbon monoxide poisoning from a malfunctioning furnace, and that emergency responders later revived his sister following a car accident. “There’s a debt I owe them that I probably can’t ever pay back,” he said. “But I’m gonna try.”
He is survived by his wife of 23 years, Kristen Connors, and his siblings, Donald and Tonya.
