Fox

Randolph Mantooth, who starred as the goofy but gallant firefighter-paramedic Johnny Gage on Emergency!, the 1970s NBC action show that changed life-saving services as we know it, has died. He was 80.

Mantooth died Thursday at a hospice facility in Ventura, California, his brother, Donald Mantooth, told The Hollywood Reporter. He had been "ill for a number of years and kept getting thinner and thinner," he said.

Mantooth was just getting started as a contract player at Universal when he was hired in 1971 to play Gage opposite Kevin Tighe as his partner, Roy DeSoto, on Emergency!, created by Dragnet legend Jack Webb and Robert A. Cinader.

When he was told he was going to play a paramedic, the first thing Mantooth said was, "What the hell is a paramedic? At that time, there were only [a handful] in all of California," he told Amy Harrington in a 2013 interview for the TV Academy Foundation website The Interviews.

He said he initially didn't want to do it because it meant he would have to get a haircut.

Gage and the more buttoned-down DeSoto worked out the Los Angeles County Fire Department's Station 51, interacting often with Rampart General Hospital personnel Dr. Kelly Brackett (Robert Fuller), nurse Dixie McCall (Julie London) and Dr. Joe Early (Bobby Troup, London's real-life husband).

Emergency! aired for six seasons, from January 1972 through May 1977, then tacked on seven telefilms over the next couple of years. There even was a Saturday morning animated series in 1973-74.

When the show premiered, there were 12 paramedic units in all of North America. In the next three years, 46 states enacted laws that allowed paramedics to practice emergency medicine. Within 10 years, more than half of all Americans were within 10 minutes of a paramedic rescue or ambulance unit.

Experts say that growth simply would not have occurred without Emergency!

"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. "The stars just lined up with this show perfectly for a purpose, for a greater purpose.

"I could be remembered for driving a car that has a name like the General Lee, not that there's anything wrong with that show. Instead I'm remembered for something that changed emergency medicine, forever. How lucky can any one person be?"

Guess what lads….

I’m ill! Yay.

So while I battle with an irritating bout of upper respiratory infection, I jumped back into DMBJ. (What a shock).

Now, as some of you may be aware, I did plan to put Reunion: Sound of Providence as my immediate next DMBJ series, but, after some advice from commenters, I did watch the first episode of ‘Adventure Behind the Bronze Door’ to bridge some of the story after Ultimate Note.

And, I’m sorry, if I’m interpreting the story correctly - Zhang Qiling took Wu Xie’s place to guard some hellhole for ten years and Wu Xie decided to wait ten years of his very much mortal life for the guy to come back??? I mean, it’s very much one thing for an immortal character to wait for a loved one, it’s quite another game again for someone with a natural lifespan to do the same. Did Wu Xie know that Zhang Qiling was essentially ageless at that point???

Because if he did, that’s an insane love story and even if he didn’t that’s still incredibly gut wrenching.

Anywho the bingo card is back lads because of course it is but I’m also semi prepared to get walloped in the feelings because Wu Xie is now older and I’m feeling very angsty about the fact that only one half of this ship is immortal.

But I’m super excited for this series because of Zhu Yilong - who absolutely killed it as Shen Wei in Guardian and who is already half of one of my beloved ships (Weilan) while I know Huang Junjie from The Spirealm. I have very mixed feelings on that show so I’m really excited to see him in something else and maybe get a fresh perspective on him.

Anyway, enough preamble, here we go!

The third brand of Wu Sanxing has dropped and he’s traumatizing the children but he seems more likable than the Time Raiders version. So far every single version of this man has been different. Here he’s (so far) coming across as borderline fatherly while in Time Raiders he was a puncheable dick and in Ultimate Note he was an irritating deadbeat but kind of funny in a pathetic way. I’m very curious to know what he comes across as in the books because there’s such variation in his portrayal. I know some of it can probably be explained away with the twin-thing and Xie Lianhuan but all three versions have been SO different that I’d be fascinated to know what he’s like in the source material to get such a wide range of actor interpretations.

Well, I suppose some things stay the same - even when Wu Sanxing isn’t here he’s causing problems. Also, I’m hella interested to see what Zhu Yilong’s older Wu Xie is gonna be like.

I’m guessing Wu Xie looks kind of a mess because it’s missing Xiaoge hours?? Also you might as well be X Files all these strange tomb occurrences are because of weird space rocks

As depressing as that may be for you, Wu Xie, I feel it would probably be for the best if he is.

And why aren’t you living with him??? Is it angsty reasons or the censors??? Was there another Pingxie split that I missed? Last time I saw them they were engaged with the sword Wu Xie carved for him. I know there was a ten year separation but I figured they’d be back together after that :(

Is this like Hei Xiazi in Mystery of the Abyss and we’re having angsty separation hours between our main pairings???

Well, they might be older but I don’t think they got that much wiser.

Also, did we learn nothing about messing round with weird green corpse goo from Mystery in the Abyss??? Okay, I realise you two weren’t there for that but I’m sure someone should be aware not to mess with weird green corpse goo.

So now Wu is possibly dying???? I guess we’re starting the bingo card on a fucking depressing note now damn. :( this was meant to be a fun thing but now I’m just bummed. Also, Xiaoge, the reason you aren’t immediately here better be because you’re searching for some sort of cure for your fiance.

Look at my man all cleaned up and off to get his deadbeat uncle. Honestly, I feel like you should drop his ass and go live in the mountains with Xiaoge though.

Love the operatic elements he added at "Galileo Figaro!"

I woke up and chose violence.

(taken and tidied from an interactive activity during the book-signing event on 6th July 2026. this is for reference only, canonically Xilaimian changes their menu items according to the seasonal ingredients available and new dishes they come up with.)

Drinks Cola 可乐 5 Black Tea (Iced) 红茶（冰) 12 Black Tea (Hot) 红茶（热）12 Yuanshan Jing'er (wine) 远山净儿 38

But when that fails, I cannot recommend enough: going to the library/bookstore, to a section you don't normally read, and reading the blurbs of any and every book that catches your attention for whatever reason, until you find one that leaves you with a burning question that can only be answered by reading the whole book.

Never underestimate the power of Needing to Know The Answer.

Like, I'm an avid epic fantasy reader. I like big series, complicated plotlines with tons of characters and settings. I struggle to get through classics or anything non-fiction, and I never browse the mystery or thriller sections.

And yet, so far the list of books that have broke a reading slump for me include: Jane Eyre, Cymbeline (Shakespeare play), Pretty Little Liars, Piranessi (fantasy, yes, but not my normal variety), a mystery about a 13 year old girl who suspecrs she was kidnapped as a baby, a non-fiction book on the bureaucracy behind the gestapo, and a non-fiction memoir about the residential school that used to be near where I live.

Drawn for @foxofninetales after liu xueyi dropped these pics