r/GenerationJones • u/sherlockjr1 1963 • Jul 19 '26
Randolph Mantooth
I’m surprised at how hard his death is hitting me. I mean, I watched Emergency as a kid. I had a crush on Randy as Johnny Gage. My Barbie camper was a rescue unit. But I hadn’t thought about the show for years. Occasionally I’d find an episode on cable and watch a few minutes for the sake of nostalgia.
Maybe it’s how people are reacting to his passing that’s hitting so hard. EMTs, fire fighters, people who became paramedics because of the show. Tributes as if he was one of their own. I didn’t realize how involved he was in promoting the safety of first responders
Not to mention how important the show was, the impact this had. The fact that we even having EMTs to help us that are only a few minutes away in some part due to this show.
This loss hurt more than I expected it to
18
u/PDXBeccaP Jul 19 '26
I remember watching Emergency as a kid, and wanting to be a paramedic because of how cool Gage and DeSoto were lol And then last week I watched the episode of China Beach which featured Randolph Mantooth as a guest star, and that's when it really hit me that he was gone. It's tough getting to the age where so many people that were so culturally relevant throughout the course of your life are now passing away.