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About Rudy Ramos
The acting career of Rudy Ramos has
covered six decades and started with an
appearance on the television show,
“Ironside” in 1969. Six months later he was
cast as a series regular, playing the part of
Wind the volatile half-breed Indian boy in
the legendary television western “High
Chaparral.” Since then he has done over
sixty guest shots on episodic television
including recurring roles on the hit TV show,
“Hunter” in 1987-88 and “Resurrection
Boulevard” in 2002-2003.
Mr. Ramos has done numerous movies for
television including the ground breaking
Helter Skelter (100 million viewers over two
nights) playing the part of Danny DeCarlo,
Everybody’s Baby: The Rescue of Jessica
McClure and Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman:
The Movie as the villainous Captain Ruiz.
Feature film credits include The Enforcer
with Clint Eastwood, Walter Hill’s cult
classic The Driver with Ryan Oneal and
Academy Award nominee French actress
Isabelle Adjani, Defiance with Jan-Michael
Vincent and Art Carney, Quicksilver with
Kevin Bacon and Laurence Fishburne,
Colors with Sean Penn and Robert Duvall
and the 2001 sleeper Road Dogz directed
by the up and coming talent Alfredo Ramos
to name a few.
The stage has been a big part of Mr.
Ramos’ life with appearances in the Los
Angeles area at the Mark Taper Forum,
Taper Too, The Met, Matrix Theater, Los
Angeles Theatre Center, and Nosotros
Theatre. He also was a member of the Los
Angeles Actors Theatre and performed in
the award winning hit show Shorteyes by
Miguel Pinero playing the part of Cupcakes.
The ensemble won the 1977 Los Angeles
Drama Critics Award for Best Ensemble.
Learn more about Rudy Ramos at
www.rudyramos.net
About The Author
Janelle Meraz Hooper is an Oklahoma
native, now living in Washington State, with
a life-long interest in American West
history. An award-winning novelist, she
weaves bits of her interests in history,
marine biology, and archaeology into her
stories. Her Turtle Trilogy (A Three-Turtle
Summer, As Brown As I Want; The
Indianhead Diaries, and Custer and His
Naked Ladies) is set in Southwest
Oklahoma. Each of the books, published
before she wrote Geronimo, Life on the
Reservation, mentions the great Indian
leader.
Learn more about Janelle at her website:
www.JanelleMerazHooper.com
About The Director
Steve Railsback was born in Dallas and
raised in Wichita Falls, Texas until he was
17 when the family moved to Ontario,
Canada. In 1964, he and his brother Mike
moved into a bunkhouse for a year, and
took jobs picking tobacco for $13 a day. At
the age of 18, Steve moved back to Texas,
and began working as a shoe salesman. He
saved $600, and immediately re-located to
New York to pursue his artistic dreams.
"I knew I wanted to be an actor from the
time I was seven years old. I had a chance
to play the prince's cousin in a production of
CINDERELLA, which was playing at a local
college. I had a short dance number and a
few lines to recite, and when I heard the
audience applaud, I was hooked forever."
In 1967, Steve arrived in Manhattan to
pursue his lifelong dream as an actor. He
had two specific goals in mind: get
accepted at the legendary Actors' Studio,
and work with famed director Elia Kazan.
He rented a small hotel in the city for a
week then moved into a tiny apartment. He
worked an assortment of odd jobs (as a
courier, a forklift operator and an employee
in a coffee plant) to make ends meet. Fate
played a great role in his quest to become
an actor. He looked in the Yellow Pages for
an acting school and located one on the 8th
floor of the famed Carnegie Hall. He quickly
realized that the classes he was taking
were not fulfilling and he was not learning
his craft.
By sheer coincidence, legendary Actors'
Studio head Lee Strasberg was teaching a
private class on the 10th floor of Carnegie
Hall. Steve watched the class, and after a
little investigation, he found out how to
apply to join as a regular student.
Strasberg accepted his application, and
Steve paid $30 a month for his classes.
Railsback would never have met the famed
acting coach if he had not selected his first
drama school in Carnegie Hall.
While studying with Strasberg, Steve met
Walter Lott who was running his own
theatre group in the city. Lott invited the
young actor to join his company, and over
the next 2 years Railsback performed in
over 15 plays in the New York area. He
was then accepted into Lee Strasberg's
acclaimed Actors' Studio, and had the
opportunity to continue his studies. In 1971,
legendary director Elia Kazan heard about
the talented actor from an associate who
had seen Steve perform in a play while he
was in Walter Lott's company. Kazan set
up a meeting with Railsback, and asked him
to do an improvisational exercise with him
at the Actors' Studio.
A week later Kazan called the actor and
informed him that he had landed the lead in
THE VISITORS, Railsback's first motion
picture co-starring James Woods. The
Vietnam War film, based on a true story,
was released in 1972.
Acting in the film and working with Elia
Kazan, a brilliant actor's director, was an
incredible experience and THE VISITORS
message was extremely powerful.
"This motion picture opened up several
wonderful acting opportunities for me." And
indeed it did. When the play "The Skin of
Our Teeth" with Elizabeth Ashley was
ending its run on Broadway, Steve received
a call to come to LA to read for the part of
Charles Manson in the TV movie "Helter
skelter", based on the book by prosecuting
attorney Vincent Bugliosi. He auditioned by
reading the speech Manson gives in the
jury-less courtroom and three days later he
had the role. When the 4-hour mini-series
aired in 1976, it became the highest rated
made-for-TV miniseries in history until
"Roots" aired a few years later. But it
typecast Steve, who many thought
out-Manson'd Manson, because he only
received scripts where he played psychos
or killers. So, he took a two-year break
from acting and returned in 1978 with a
vengeance, playing Pvt. Robert E. Lee
Pruitt, the part made famous by
Montgomery Clift, in "From Here to
Eternity" co-starring Natalie Wood, and
followed that role with his favorite role to
date, as Cameron in the 1980's "The Stunt
Man," co-starring the legendary Peter
O'Toole.
His performance in "The Stuntman"
garnered him a Golden Globe nomination
for Best Actor and he won that honor at the
Dallas Film Festival. From that point on,
Steve has worked almost non-stop, with
memorable roles in fellow Texan Tobe
Hooper's 1985 "Lifeforce," and playing
Duane Barry in two of the most popular
episodes of "The X-Files," the two-part
"Duane Barry" and "Ascension."
With over 79 titles in his filmography, Steve
is not only one of the best Hollywood
all-time actors but also an amazing human
being who has served as both reference
and inspiration to actors and directors alike.
