Talk:Randolph Mantooth

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Year of birth

There has recently been some confusion on year of birth being 1945 or 1950. In a 2007 radio interview with the actor Randy says he was 20 years old when cast for the part of John Gage and "turned 21" when the pilot of Emergency! was being filmed. Since the pilot (The Wedsworth-Townsend Act) was broadcast January 15 1972 and likely filmed 1971, the math adds up that his year of birth is 1950. ♫ Cricket02 (talk) 19:02, 29 December 2013 (UTC)

• Side note: From the reference above, this is the direct quote from the interview: (while discussing the show Emergency!) -

"...I was this lucky kid who was 20 years old when I was cast in the show and I turned 21 when the pilot was being shot..."

— , in x, x, Randolph Mantooth

It is not a direct quote as to year of birth - but if he was born in 1950, he would have been 21 when the pilot to Emergency was being shot in 1971 - just as he says in the quote.

There is so much on the net that says 1945; however, do note that a lot of internet sites mirror information from Wikipedia, and this article did have "1945" as the year of birth for a long time until recently, and that is probably why "1945" is out there as much as it is.

This reference is a direct quote from the actor, so it is really what Wikipedia has to go with as a "reliable" source, for now anyway, until at least another reference can be found and that would have to again be a direct quote from the actor short of an official public record.

Please discuss any further changes to year of birth here before editing so a consensus can be reached. We want to have the most accurate information possible for any biography of a living person. Cheers. ♫ Cricket02 (talk) 19:37, 5 January 2014 (UTC)

Regarding this recent edit by User:NDakotaCelt. Please see this discussion at Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons/Noticeboard ♫ Cricket02 (talk) 18:57, 17 January 2014 (UTC)

Randy Mantooth at familysearch.org

He may say that and I have heard him refer to it. Let me present this argument: If he is the oldest of four kids and you use the yearbooks as an additional guide for narrowing down his age. According to the classmates.com site, and the yearbook issued for San Marcos High School in Santa Barbara, I found Randy listed as a Junior in 1963 and a Senior in 1964. His sister graduated in 1965. He could have graduated when he was 17 or 18 years of age, depending on how old he was when he started school and where he was living. Those laws vary by state. Randy did live in 24 states. It also cites on his website biographical sketch that his parents settled in Santa Barbara in 1963 because his mother wanted him to spend one uninterrupted year in school before he graduated. That was in 1963. He has a sister who graduated from the same high school in '65, a brother in '70, and another sister in '77. His picture appears in both volumes, in addition to his name, Randy Mantooth, in addition to cast lists for plays. He changed his name to Randolph when he signed with Universal as they wanted him to change his last name but he changed his first name.

The Familysearch piece also supports the original birth name of Randy Mantooth as his mother's maiden name is Neddenriep.

The piece written for his background at SBCC also supports 1945, HE spent a year at SBCC before transferring to AADA where he graduated in 1968 or 69. He signed a contract in 1970 with Universal. The following newsletter shows that Brad Davis, the individual who shared the Charles Jehlinger Award with Randy, graduated in 1970. See page 41, under 1970 . This would be in line with Randy graduating between 68 - 70 from AADA. Not sure if this degree is a bachelors or a master's degree. A Bachelor's degree would put his graduating age around 23 to 24. From 1970, that would put his birthdate around '46

The records at Familysearch are fairly accurate, an arm of the LDS, scans and indexes records from a variety of states and locations. In some instances, they have digitized records from various outlets. Rule of thumb with the LDS / Familysearch... if the record is from a state archive or state repository, there will be a degree of accuracy that will not be with a family history or family tree that has no source notes. The primary issue is with handwritten records from the 1800s and US Census records where the writing of the names by enumerators is hit and miss. The census records do not always have correct spellings and the ages are sometimes off. NDakotaCelt NDakotaCelt (talk) 08:46, 18 January 2014 (UTC)

I think this argument makes sense. Thank you for all your research. I was unsure of the site familysearch.org being a reliable source so that is why I posted the question at WP:BLP, because we want to be absolutely sure there is no misinformation on a biography of a living person. I am going to change the ref in the article itself - but if there are any objections to this information please post here so it can be discussed further. Thank you again NDakotaCelt. You seem very knowledgeable on this subject and further improvements would be very much appreciated. Cheers, ♫ Cricket02 (talk) 13:13, 18 January 2014 (UTC)

Actually, could you provide a link to the interview or source that Randy changed his name to Randolph for Universal. I known I've seen/heard it before but I have no clue from where. If we could have that as further evidence of his birth name, the source you provided from familysearch.org would be even more solid. Thanks again. ♫ Cricket02 (talk) 13:24, 18 January 2014 (UTC)

Reliable sources

For future reference, please see Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources that is a guideline that discusses the reliability of various types of sources. The policy on sourcing is Wikipedia:Verifiability, which requires inline citations for any material challenged or likely to be challenged, and for all quotations. The policy is strictly applied to all material in the mainspace—articles, lists, and sections of articles—without exception, and in particular to biographies of living persons, which states: Contentious material about living persons (or recently deceased) that is unsourced or poorly sourced—whether the material is negative, positive, neutral, or just questionable—should be removed immediately and without waiting for discussion.

Cheers, ♫ Cricket02 (talk) 14:11, 8 January 2014 (UTC)