Biography

Randolph Mantooth definitely fit the bill when he made a bankable name for himself in the TV medical series Emergency! (1972) as strong but sensitive paramedic/firefighter "John Gage".

Tall, dark and good-looking, Randy is of Seminole Indian heritage, born in Sacramento, California on September 19, 1945. One of four children born to a construction engineer, his childhood was somewhat physically unsettling in that his father's job career had the family moving frequently from state to state. Randy attended San Marcos High School in the Santa Barbara area of California where he participated in school plays. He received a scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York following his studies at Santa Barbara City College.

Randy was discovered in New York by a Universal talent agent after performing the lead in the play "Philadelphia, Here I Come" and returned to California. He slowly built up his resume with work on such dramatic series as Adam-12 (1968), McCloud (1970), Alias Smith and Jones (1971) and Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969). This led to TV stardom on the popular "Emergency!" series in 1972 which ran over five seasons. As a change of pace, he tried comedy and earned series roles on the short-lived Operation Petticoat (1977) and Detective School (1979), as well as pursued the guest star route on episodics. He was also prominently seen in the high-profile mini-series Testimony of Two Men (1977) and The Seekers (1979).

After a career lull in the early 1980s, Randy found a new direction in his career with daytime soaps. He played "Clay Alden" in the soap opera Loving (1983) from 1987 through 1990, then left for personal reasons before returning to the show in 1993, this time in the role of "Alex Masters". The soap was later revamped and entitled The City (1995) but it lasted only two more years.

From there he has regularly appeared on General Hospital (1963), One Life to Live (1968) and As the World Turns (1956), where he has played both good guys and villains. Millennium credits film include featured roles in the romantic comedy It Started with a Kiss (1959), the action thriller Agent Red (2000), the social drama Price to Pay (2006), the romantic thriller He Was a Quiet Man (2007), the action adventure Bold Native (2010) and, his last to date, the horror yarn Killer Holiday (2013). On TV, he has had regular roles on the daytime soap dramas As the World Turns (1956) in 2003-2005 and One Life to Live (1968) in 2007.

Randy has frequently returned to his theater roots in such productions as "Footprints in Blood", "Back to the Blankets", "Wink Dah", "The Independence of Eddie Rose", "The Paper Crown", "The Inuit" and, most recently, "Rain Dance" off-Broadway in 2003.

Divorced from actress Rose Parra, he married actress Kristen Connors in 2002. They were featured together as the ambassador and his wife in the film comedy Scream of the Bikini (2009). Two siblings also got into the business -- actor Don Mantooth and producer Tonya Mantooth.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net

Frequently stars in soap operas

Forced to cut his hair to comply with real Los Angeles County Fire Department standards, he added the phrase, "Make room for a long-haired fireman" to his autograph on technical advisor Jim Page's copy of the pilot script.

Participated in an Annual All-Star-Game in Szot Park in Chicopee, MA, from 1993-2002..

Has been actively involved in several charitable causes such as The Make-A-Wish Foundation Western & Central Massachusetts Chapter and has served as a board member of Project 51.

One of his first jobs in the entertainment industry was being an NBC Page at their television studios at Rockefeller Center in New York City.

The eldest of four children of Sadie Ernestine (née Neddenreip; 4/2/2013, aged 90) and Donald Delois "Buck" Mantooth (born 6/1/1919, d. 10/28/2001) aged 82), his siblings are Don Mantooth, Tonya Mantooth, and the late Nancy Mantooth (who died on August 26, 2015 following a long battle with cancer).

Best known by the public for his starring role as Paramedic Johnny Gage on Emergency! (1972).

Was raised in Santa Barbara, CA, after living in 24 states.

Considered for the part of Seismologist "Walt Russell" in Earthquake (1974). In the end, however, Kip Niven won the part.

He created a television show about the Urban Search and Rescue Unit called "USAR-1".

Considered for one of the leading parts in the short-lived WB show Hyperion Bay (1998).

His aunt was Margie Casey, a public school teacher and elementary school principal. She retired in 1989 and died of cancer in 2012, aged 87.

Along with Julie London, Bobby Troup and Kevin Tighe, he appeared in every episode of Emergency! (1972).

He has played the character of Los Angeles Paramedic John Gage on four different series: Emergency! (1972), Emergency +4 (1973), Adam-12 (1968), and Sierra (1974).

In almost all the Emergency! episodes, a pack of cigarettes is clearly visible in his front left uniform pocket. He is never shown smoking on camera at all.

Upon arriving at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Randy was prompted to consider changing his name. Having Randy as his given name at birth, he felt this was more of a nickname than a name, so he decided to change his name to Randolph.

Did live action safety tips along with Kevin Tighe at the end of each episode of the Saturday morning cartoon series Emergency +4 (where they reprized both their roles from the live action TV show Emergency) these scenes were cut out when the show went in to syndication.

Each September of every year (for nearly 30 years), by one week, he shared the same month (in birthdays) with Julie London, until her death in 2000.

After the death of his real-life father, Mantooth became closer to Julie London, whom he first met in 1971 on Emergency! (1972). He reportedly came to regard her as a kind of surrogate mother.

Partnered with friend and fellow actor Robert Pratt to create the multimedia company Prattooth Productions.

Mantooth and Kevin Tighe were both mentored and taught how to listen to music by Julie London.

Despite being lifelong friends with Robert Fuller, who played his medical teacher on Emergency! (1972), they fell out of touch after Fuller, newly married to actress Jennifer Savidge, moved to a ranch in Gainesville, Texas, near Dallas.

As an unfamiliar actor, he had been mentored into the business by iconic actress/singer and television personality Julie London. His first television exposure with London was a co-starring role opposite her in the Emergency! (1972) series. Mantooth played London's student and firefighter, Paramedic Johnny Gage, for each and every one of the 124 episodes of the 1st 6 seasons.

As a little boy, next to his future co-star Kevin Tighe, he was also a lifelong Julie London fan, by listening to her music, before co-starring opposite her in Emergency! (1972), as one of the paramedics.

Actress/singer Julie London took him, under her wing, when he was 26. The friendship lasted for 29 years, until London's own death in 2000 (the day of what would've been Bobby Troup's 82nd birthday).

People tell me this all the time...they come up to me and say, 'You're my hero,' I say no. I'm just the face. You're the body. You do the work. You're on the front line. Believe me, when I tell you from the bottom of my heart -- if you're a firefighter...an EMT...a paramedic -- you're my hero.

[on playing someone else besides "Johnny Gage"]: I got recognized when I was on Emergency! (1972), but nothing like I do now as "Clay". People seem to have a tendency to take the soaps much more seriously and reality identify on a personal basis much more than they do on prime-time. I'll be riding home on the subway and these ladies will come up to me and lecture me about how I should deal with "Ava".

[on his Loving (1983) character]: I don't want to make him a villain. First of all, I don't think anyone is all bad or all good; there are shades of human behavior and I think a character is more interesting and more credible if you show those shadings.

[on the later deaths of his professional on- and off-screen relationships with singers/actors Bobby Troup and Julie London, who played Dr. Joe Early, MD and Nurse Dixie "Dix" McCall, RN, respectively]: Bobby Troup and Julie London ... it was a killer when he passed away and Julie, too. It was like a real end of an era for us ... I still think about them and those times when Bobby was telling me how he wrote the song, "Route 66", and what he was going through ... I remember saying, 'Randy remember every word he is telling you' ... Julie London was so great, and she always referred to herself as a 'broad'. My fondest memory of her was the sheer joy of working with her ... she always had this droll sense of humor and I also remember sitting in their home [they were married from 1960 until he died in 1999; she was previously married to Jack Webb from 1947-1953]. It was this typical L.A. sprawling house in the hills overlooking the Valley and there were all these photos of Frank Sinatra and others ... I remember sitting there thinking I have been allowed to enter this sanctum that most people don't ever get to see. It was really neat.

[Who interpreted about Julie London, who was the 1st Emergency! (1972) female star ever to be a torch singer of the 50s/60s, to a modern woman of the 70s]: She was talented and didn't need many words and we didn't need much paragraph to do that!

Everybody says, "Aren't you tired of being recognized for doing Emergency! (1972)?" No. I'm remembered for something that changed emergency medicine forever. That actually saved lives. How lucky can any one person be?