October 1998

Randall was born May 25th in Fort Worth, Texas, the adopted son of Russell and Virginia Carver.  His father, a successful businessman, became President of the Hereford State Bank and his mother, a three time Life Master Bridge Player. Randy spent his early childhood in Canadian, Texas, a town much like the one seen in “The Last Picture Show”. It is here that Randy got his first taste of acting and learned to read while holding his mother’s scripts while she rehearsed for community theatre productions.  

After he was graduated from Missouri Military Academy, Randy returned to Amarillo where he appeared in the first production of the outdoor musical “Texas”. Graduated from West Texas State University, Randy soon landed a small pivotal role in the film “Midnight Cowboy.”  Having served a stint in Korea as a Lieutenant, Tank Platoon Leader on the DMZ for one year and one day, Randy was accepted for the Master’s of Fine Arts Graduate Program at UCLA. One year later, Randy starred in his first feature film, “Time to Run”. A special screening was held at the movie theatre he used to frequent every Saturday morning in his hometown.  Numerous feature films and guest starring roles followed, but it wasn’t until Norman Lear hired him to play “Jeffrey DeVito” on the “Mary
Hartman, Mary Hartman” that he had his first ‘steady job.’

In the Spring of 1978, Randy read for the role of “John Burns”, the naive, small-town guy on the ABC series “Taxi”. “When I read for the part, it felt right, so natural. It took the producers a long time to make up their minds, but I had a feeling from the beginning I was going to get it. I played it true to my instincts and creativity. It was the best possible learning experience because I was able to work with the best people in the business”.  Randy went on to star in the Vietnam-era series “Six O’Clock Follies” and dozens of television movies, his favorite being “Detour to Terror”, where he got to play his first bad-guy role terrorizing O.J. Simpson.

In March of 1991, Randy reunited with his fellow “Taxi” cast members where they were honored by the Museum of Television and Radio at the Los Angeles Country Art Museum. Once again, the gang from the Sunshine Cab company gathered to recreate their “Taxi” roles for the feature film “Man on the Moon” starring Jim Carrey as the late Andy Kaufman.

After an exhaustive search, Randall was able to locate his biological sister and they met for the first time in the summer of 1996. He is now the proud Brother and Uncle to his new, loving extended family.  Randy makes his home in the San Fernando Valley with his fiancee Shelley and their dog Dolly Pearl. He continues to act and is also conducting private coaching session with new and established actors.  A recent graduate of the Skip Barber Racing School, Randy would give it all up in a minute to realize his impossible dream… to drive at the Indy 500.

"I was trying to get under contact at Universal.  At the time, a contact player would work on all the film and television shows produced at the studio. I read for Monique James and Bo Wilson and was told that even though they liked my work, they already had a dark haired, blue eyed guy named Randy (Mantooth) and Monique didn’t want to get us confused.  I am glad to have had the opportunity to have worked on four episodes of “Emergency!” (The sofa bed, the girl’s engagement ring stuck on my finger, the wedding day fire hydrant crash and sadly, an airplane crash with a Governor that I didn’t survive). I always admired the Technical Advisors who made sure all the situations were handled accurately, even at the risk of redundancy.... (ie: Ringers Lactate)  I’ve always wanted to know… that the heck is “Ringer’s Lactate” ?"

Randy Carver worked on MAN ON THE MOON - UNIVERSAL/JERSEY FILMS (Spring 1999)

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