Stephen Railsback is an American theatre, film, and television actor. He is best known for his performances in the films ''

The Stunt Man ''The Stunt Man'' is a 1980 American action comedy film directed by Richard Rush, starring Peter O'Toole, Steve Railsback, and Barbara Hershey. The film was adapted by Lawrence B. Marcus and Rush from the 1970 novel of the same name by Paul Brodeu ...

'' and ''Lifeforce'', and his portrayal of Charles Manson in the 1976 television mini-series '' Helter Skelter''.

Career

Railsback was a student of

Lee Strasberg Lee Strasberg (born Israel Strassberg; November 17, 1901 – February 17, 1982) was an American theatre director, actor and acting teacher. He co-founded, with theatre directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931 ...

and the Actors Studio and in the late 1960s and early 1970s spent 10 years working in

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. 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 Edward Theodore Gein (; August 27, 1906 – July 26, 1984), also known as the Butcher of Plainfield or the Plainfield Ghoul, was an American murderer and body snatcher. Gein's crimes, committed around his hometown of Plainfield, Wisconsin, ga ...

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 ''

'' with Peter O'Toole, the astronaut Tom Carlsen in Tobe Hooper's '' Lifeforce,''

Duane Barry "Duane Barry" is the fifth episode of the second season and 29th episode overall of the science fiction television series ''The X-Files'', premiering in the United States and Canada on October 14, 1994. The episode was written and directed by exe ...

in two episodes of ''

The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who ...

'', and Joseph Welch in the pilot episode of '' Supernatural''. In 2008, he appeared in the

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

horror movie Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, ap ...

film ''

Plaguers ''Plaguers'' is a 2008 American science-fiction horror film written and directed by Brad Sykes and featuring Steve Railsback. Plot Tarver (Steve Railsback) is a crew member on board ''Pandora'', a freight transport carrier headed toward Earth with ...

''.Plaguers DVD Art and Specs
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Filmography

References

External links

* * * Living people American male film actors American male television actors Male actors from Dallas 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-screen-actor-1940s-stub