Randolph Mantooth, 1945 – 2026

Actor Randolph Mantooth, costar of TV’s Emergency!, died on July 9. He was 80. Part Cherokee, Seminol, German, and English, Mantooth was a rising young TV actor when cast as paramedic John Gage on Emergency! (1972-79). He later had success on the soaps Loving, As the World Turns, and One Life to Live, also guesting on numerous other shows and in TV-movies, as well as the 1992 CBS After-School Special Please, God, I'm Only Seventeen. Mantooth also acted in numerous regional shows, appearing in Jeff Daniels’ Purple Rose Theatre Company in Michigan, and was an advocate for Native American causes, as well as for firefighters, paramedics, and EMTs. When asked if he regretted being identified with Emergency!, he said, “No. I'm remembered for something that changed emergency medicine forever. That actually saved lives. How lucky can any one person be? People 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.”