Randolph Mantooth, 'Emergency!' Star, Dies at 80

Randolph Mantooth, who gave a generation its most enduring image of the American emergency responder through his portrayal of paramedic Johnny Gage on NBC's 'Emergency!', has died at the age of 80. For seven years beginning in 1972, his performance did something rare — it made a profession visible at the very moment that profession was finding its identity, and in doing so, helped shape it. The line between the character and the cultural impact blurs in a way that few actors ever achieve: Mantooth did not merely reflect American heroism, he quietly helped define what it looked like in practice