Steve Railsback Explained

Steve Railsback
Birth Name:	Stephen Hall Railsback
Birth Date:	16 November 1945
Birth Place:	Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Occupation:	Actor
Years Active:	1967–present
Children:	3

Steve Railsback (born November 16, 1945, in Dallas, Texas) is an American theatre, film, and television actor. He is best known for his performances in the films The Stunt Man and Lifeforce, and his portrayal of Charles Manson in the 1976 television mini-series Helter Skelter.^[1]

Career

Railsback was a student of Lee Strasberg and the Actors Studio and in the late 1960s and early 1970s spent 10 years working in theatre in New York City. He once said that he found Strasberg extremely difficult to work with.

He made his film debut in The Visitors, directed by Elia Kazan. He portrayed two notorious murderers, appearing as Charles Manson in the 1976 television miniseries Helter Skelter and as Ed Gein in the 2000 film In the Light of the Moon. He also served as executive producer of the latter film.

Other notable roles include the part of Cameron in The Stunt Man with Peter O'Toole,^[1] the astronaut Tom Carlsen in Tobe Hooper's Lifeforce, Duane Barry in two episodes of The X-Files, and Joseph Welch in the pilot episode of Supernatural.

In 2008, he appeared in the science fiction/horror movie film Plaguers.^[2]

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1972	data-sort-value="Visitors, The"	The Visitors	Mike Nickerson
1974	Cockfighter	Junior
1976	Helter Skelter	Charles Manson
1978	Angela	Jean Lebrecque
1979	From Here to Eternity	Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt
1980	data-sort-value="Stunt Man, The"	The Stunt Man	Cameron
1982	Deadly Games	Billy Owens
	Trick or Treats	The Boyfriend
	Turkey Shoot	Paul Anders
1983	data-sort-value="Golden Seal, The"	The Golden Seal	Jim Lee
	Veliki transport	Pavle Paroški
1985	Lifeforce	Colonel Tom Carlsen
	Torchlight	Jake Gregory
1986	Armed and Dangerous	The Cowboy
	Spearfield's Daughter	Tom Border
	data-sort-value="Wind, The"	The Wind	Kesner
1987	Scenes from the Goldmine	Harry Spiros
	Distortions	Scott Marshall
	data-sort-value="Survivalist, The"	The Survivalist	Jack Tillman
	Blue Monkey	Detective Jim Bishop
	Nukie	Dr. Eric Harvey
1988	Deadly Intent	Jeff Kirkwood
1989	data-sort-value="Assassin, The"	The Assassin	Hank Knight
1990	La Cruz de Iberia	Novak
1991		Vincent Brown
	Scissors	Alex MorganCole Morgan
1992	Forever	William Desmond Taylor
1993	Quake	Kyle
	Private Wars	Jack Manning
	Bonds of Love	Ken Smith	Television film
	Final Mission	Colonel Anderson
	Save Me	Robbins
	Calendar Girl	Roy's Father
	In the Line of Fire	David Coppinger	uncredited
1996	Street Corner Justice	Sergeant Ryan Freeborn
	Barb Wire	Colonel Victor Pryzer
1997	Stranger in the House	Jack Derby
	Pressure Point	Arno Taylor
	Vanishing Point	Sergeant Preston
1998	Disturbing Behavior	Officer Cox
1999	Me and Will	Rob
	Made Men	Kyle
2000	Say Goodnight, Michael	Actor
	Termination Man	Dylan Pope
	In the Light of the Moon	Ed Gein
2001	Storytelling	Mr. Kirk
	Double Down	Charlie
2002	Slash	Jeremiah
2003	data-sort-value="Hitcher II: I've Been Waiting, The"		Deputy Jessup	uncredited
	data-sort-value="Box, The"	The Box	Jake Ragna
2005	Neo Ned	Mr. Day
	Intermedio	Old Man
	data-sort-value="Devil's Rejects, The"	The Devil's Rejects	Sheriff Ken Dwyer	uncredited
	King of the Lost World	Larry
2008	Follow the Profit	Senator Stanton
	Plaguers	Tarver
	Ready or Not	Pilot
		Store Clerk
2018	Gone Are the Days	Jaden

Television

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1985	data-sort-value="Hitchhiker, The"	The Hitchhiker	Mickey	Episode: "Petty Thieves"
1986	data-sort-value="Twilight Zone, The"	The Twilight Zone	Johnny Davis	Episode: "Dead Run"
1991	data-sort-value="Young Riders, The"	The Young Riders	Tyler	Episode: "The Peacemakers"
1994	data-sort-value="X-Files, The"	The X-Files	Duane Barry	2 episodes: s02e05 "Duane Barry" and s02e06 "Ascension"
1995	Walker, Texas Ranger	Jerry Lee Stark	Episode: "The Guardians"
1997–1998	data-sort-value="Visitor, The"	The Visitor	Colonel James Vise	13 episodes
2000	Charmed	Litvack	Episode: "Give Me a Sign"
2001	data-sort-value="Practice, The"	The Practice	Walter Dawson	Episode: "Killing Time"
2002	Family Law	Gary Peres	Episode: "Children of a Lesser Dad"
	data-sort-value="District, The"	The District	Charles "Chip" Renson	Episode: "Free-Fire Zone"
2004	data-sort-value="Handler, The"	The Handler	Harley Aimes	Episode: "Give Daddy Some Sugar"
2005	Kojak	Edward Sawyer	Episode: "All Bets Off: Part 2"
	Supernatural	Joseph Welch	Episode: "Pilot"
2010	data-sort-value="Mentalist, The"	The Mentalist	Kittel	Episode: "Ball of Fire"
2012	Femme Fatales	Doctor Daniel Duryea	2 episodes
2013	Deadtime Stories	Owen	Episode: "Invasion of the Appleheads"
2017	Decker	Fictional General Cotter	Episode: "Same Old Glory"

Notes and References

1. News: Janet Maslin. Janet Maslin. October 17, 1980. The Stunt Man. The New York Times. November 3, 2007.
2. http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/34221/plaguers-dvd-art-and-specs Plaguers DVD Art and Specs