Randolph Mantooth was born Randy Mantooth on September 19, 1945, in Sacramento, California. His father was of Cherokee and Seminole descent. By the time he turned 18, Randolph Mantooth had lived in 24 different states. His father was a pipeline construction engineer, so his family moved frequently. He acted in school plays at Santa Marcos High School in Santa Barbara, California. He attended Santa Barbara City College, and then studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. It was at this point that he began using "Randolph" as a stage name,
He played Gar in the play Philadelphia, Here I Come in New York City. Dorothy Kilgallen, a talent scout for Universal, took notice of him in the play, and he signed with Universal. He made his television debut in an episode of Matt Lincoln in 1970. He guest starred on The Bold Ones: The Senator and McCloud.
Randolph Mantooth began the Seventies with a guest appearance on The Virginian. He also guest starred on the shows Alias Smith and Jones; Night Gallery; The Bold Ones: The Lawyers; Sarge; McCloud; Marcus Welby, M.D.; Adam-12; and Owen Marshall, Counsellor at Law. It was in 1972 that he began playing paramedic Johnny Gage on the hit TV series Emergency!. He also appeared as Johnny Gage on episodes of Adam-12 and Sierra, and provided the voice of Johnny Gage on the Saturday morning cartoon Emergency +4. After Emergency! ended, it was followed by several TV movies, in which Randolph Mantooth reprised his role as Johnny Gage. For the remainder of the Seventies, he guest starred on the shows Cos; Project U.F.O.;The Love Boat; Vega$; Battlestar Galactica; and Charlie's Angels. He was a regular on the second and final season of the sitcom Operation Petticoat and a regular on the short-lived sitcom Detective School. In the Seventies, he appeared on the mini-series Vanished, Testimony of Two Men, and The Seekers.
In the Eighties, Randolph Mantooth began a stint on the soap opera Loving. He also guest-starred on the shows Aloha Paradise; Fantasy Island; Vega$; Insight; Dallas; Scene of the Crime; Murder, She Wrote; The Fall Guy; and L.A. Law. In the Nineties, he was again a regular on the soap opera Loving and a regular on the soap opera The City. He guest starred on the shows Under Cover; China Beach; MacGyver; CBS Schoolbreak Special; Baywatch; General Hospital; JAG; Walker, Texas Ranger; Promised Land; Diagnosis Murder; and ER. He appeared in the movies Enemy Action (1999), Time Share (2000), and Agent Red (2000).
In the Naughts, Randolph Mantooth had recurring roles on As the World Turns and One Life to Live. He guest starred on Criminal Minds and Ghost Whisperer. He appeared in the movies Price to Pay (2006), He Was a Quiet Man (2007), Scream of the Bikini (2009), and Bold Native (2010). In the Teens, he guest starred on Sons of Anarchy and appeared in the movie Killer Holiday (2013).
Randolph Mantooth will always be best known as Johnny Gage on Emergency!, and it is because of Emergency! that his impact went well beyond his acting. When he was cast as Johnny Gage, he didn't even know what a paramedic was. There comes as no surprise when it is considered that when Emergency! debuted, there were only 12 paramedic units in the entire continent of North America. Within three years of the show's debut, 48 states enacted laws creating paramedic units. Ten years after the show's debut, more than half of all Americans lived only ten minutes away from a paramedic unit.
Not only did Randolph Mantooth play a paramedic on an influential show, but he was a tireless advocate on the behalf of paramedics, and other emergency medical service providers. He served as a spokesman for the International Association of Firefighters on Health and Safety. He was a lifetime member of Advocates for EMS and the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians. He was a spokesman and honorary chairman for the Los Angeles County Fire Museum Association. He was a co-producer on the documentary Into the Unknown: The Paramedics' Journey with Emergency! co-star Kevin Tighe and actor Steve Buscemi (who had been a New York City firefighter). Randolph Mantooth also raised funds for burn centres, first responder memorials, and charities, and advocated for funding for EMS services throughout the country. For his work on behalf of firefighters, paramedics and EMS providers, he received several accolades, but in accepting them he always deferred to the firefighters paramedics, and other EMS personnel he considered to be the true heroes. He always acknowledged the debut he owed to firefighters and paramedics.
Another way in which Randolph Mantooth had an impact is that he was Native American in descent. This was acknowledged in early episodes of Emergency!, although it was later dropped. In 1984, for the American Indian Theatre Company in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he appeared in a stage production of Black Elk Speaks. He later played a Native American character on Sons of Anarchy, as well as the off-Broadway play Rain Dance in 2003. He also advocated for Native Americans playing Native American characters. At a time when Native Americans only appeared on television in Westerns, Randolph Mantooth appeared in a drama set in a present day.
Of course, Randolph Mantooth played other roles. In the China Beach episode "100 Kicks Out," he played a bar owner. He had a regular role on the second season of Operation Petticoat as Lt. Mike Bender and was a regular on Detective School as enterprising salesman Eddie Dawkins. In the Battlestar Galactica episode "Greetings from Earth," he played Michael, a computer specialist from the planet Terra. Randolph Mantooth was a talented actor and a tireless advocate for Emergency Medical Services.
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