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Randolph Mantooth, who starred arsenic a Los Angeles paramedic connected nan NBC bid Emergency! on pinch turns connected soap operas including As nan World Turns, One Life to Live and The City, has died. He was 80.
His family told our sister tract The Hollywood Reporter that Mantooth died July 9 successful hospice successful Ventura, CA, aft a agelong illness.
Born connected September 19, 1945, successful Sacramento, Mantooth began his surface profession successful nan early 1970s, guesting connected episodes of specified celebrated bid arsenic The Virginian, McCloud, Adam-12, Marcus Welby, M.D. and Rod Serling’s Night Gallery. His large break came erstwhile he was formed arsenic LAFD paramedic John Gage successful Emergency, which was executive produced by Jack Webb and played for illustration a occurrence section return connected Dragnet.
Debuting arsenic a midseason replacement show successful January 1972, Emergency! was changeable successful a near-documentary style and followed nan adventures — and mundane downtime firehouse banter — of Squad 51. Each week, Mantooth’s Gage, partner Roy De Soto (Kevin Tighe) and their firefighter colleagues would reply calls some regular and calamitous. Viewers knew it was 1 of nan second erstwhile an extended siren would sound astatine nan station. The formed besides featured Robert Fuller, Julie London and Bobby Troup.
Running for 5 seasons into September 1977, nan hourlong play pinch comic elements ne'er was a ratings hit, only denting nan year-end primetime Top 30 erstwhile successful nan three-network universe. But it was coagulated counterprogramming against its 8 p.m. Saturday title of CBS’ All successful nan Family and later that Norman Lear classic’s spinoff The Jeffersons.
During its run, stone set The Tubes named-checked Mantooth successful nan opus “What Do You Want From Life?” from its 1975 debut LP. In it, vocalist Fee Waybill was rattling disconnected a database of things nan listening is “entitled to” arsenic an American citizen. Among them was “a personally autographed image of
Randy Mantooth.”
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