Actor Randolph Mantooth Dies at 80

Randolph Mantooth died Thursday at a hospice facility in Ventura, California. He was 80. His brother Donald Mantooth confirmed the death and said Mantooth had been ill for a number of years. Mantooth was born Randy DeRoy Mantooth on September 19, 1945, in Sacramento, California.

He attended San Marcos High School in Santa Barbara and trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. A Universal Studios scout discovered him during a stage production, leading to guest roles on series including Ironside and The Virginian.

Breakthrough Role on Emergency!

, which ran from January 1972 to May 1977 and was followed by seven made-for-television movies. When it premiered, only 12 paramedic units existed in North America. Within three years, 46 states had passed laws allowing paramedics to practice emergency medicine.

"When you take life-saving services out of the hospital and into the field, the number of lives that are saved is incalculable," Mantooth said in a 2013 interview. Mantooth and Tighe were named Honorary Fire Chiefs by the Los Angeles Fire Department in 2012.

He later appeared in series including Dallas, L.A.

Law, Battlestar Galactica, Criminal Minds, and Sons of Anarchy, as well as daytime soaps such as General Hospital and One Life to Live. "Turned out, I worked off and on for almost nine years on that show. I’ve never had more fun in my life," he said of his soap opera work.

2015 Mantooth announced a cancer diagnosis on Facebook and later posted that he had completed treatment. He is survived by his wife of 23 years, Kristen Connors, and siblings Donald and Tonya.