Mantooth was an actor.
He did not become a certified paramedic simply because he played one on television.
Yet he devoted much of his later public life to supporting the profession.
EMS1 reported that Mantooth remained a passionate advocate for frontline EMTs and paramedics for decades.
That distinction is important.
He did not claim someone else’s profession as his own.
Instead, he used the attention he had received through television to shine a light on people who actually worked in the field.
His Relationship With Kevin Tighe
Mantooth’s partnership with Kevin Tighe was central to Emergency!.
Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto made a memorable pair.
Gage was often more impulsive.
DeSoto tended to be calmer.
Their personalities complemented each other, and their partnership gave the program much of its emotional rhythm.
But their friendship went beyond the show.
Mantooth and Tighe remained close for decades.
Tighe was his best man when Mantooth married Kristen Connors in 2002, and later accounts described the two as longtime friends.
