Golden years of television
Lawton native Rudy Ramos’ 50-year acting career scales to new heights on ‘Yellowstone’
Rudy Ramos is a believer in happy accidents and well-timed coincidences.
After all, his five-decade acting career has benefited from several.
A chance meeting and fast friendship with Oklahoma singer-songwriter Roger Tillison at a folk club in his hometown of Lawton inspired Ramos to move to California. A random encounter there with the assistant to MGM Studios’ casting director at the shoe store where he worked took him to the Beverly Hills Playhouse, where he began training as an actor.
More recently, the unplanned acquisition of a new agent led to a recurring role on the hit television drama “Yellowstone,” a modern-day Western saga
starring Kevin Costner, Gil Birmingham and Kelly Reilly.
“You don’t expect something like this to happen when you’re near the end of your career and it be such a big deal,” Ramos, 73, said in a recent phone interview from his Southern California home. “It really is like the perfect storm. It’s a joy to go to the set.”
Filmed in Montana and Utah, “Yellowstone” follows the Dutton family, led by patriarch John (Costner), owners of the country’s largest contiguous cattle ranch. Their sprawling empire clashes with the neighbors, including land developers, an American Indian reservation and the national park. Written and directed by Oscar nominee Taylor Sheridan, the Paramount Network series drew 5 million viewers to make it this summer’s top drama series debut. This year’s second mostwatched TV series on adsupported cable, Season 1 was released Tuesday on Blu-ray and DVD.
The show was quickly renewed for a second season, and Ramos will reprise his role as Felix Long, a wise elder on the fictional Broken Rock Reservation. Loyal to his tribe, Felix also has ties to the Duttons: His granddaughter Monica (Kelsey Asbille) is married to Dutton son Kayce (Luke Grimes), and they have a young son (Brecken Merrill).
“Felix is a real interesting character,” said the Oklahoma native, who is of American Indian and Mexican heritage. “I wouldn’t leave ‘Yellowstone’ for anything. They’re going to have to kick me out. I love working with Taylor Sheridan. He just gives me so much freedom.”
His late-career turn on “Yellowstone” in many ways hearkens back to his breakthrough role on the popular TV Western “The High Chaparral.” Ramos had only one credit to his name when he was cast as a Pawnee youth named Wind on the 1970-71 season of the trailblazing series, considered ahead of its time for its casting and depictions of Latino and
Native people.
Ramos expanded his career into film with his turn as a robber opposite Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry in 1976’s “The Enforcer.”
“You don’t get any bigger than Eastwood, and that was my first film. And it was one scene, but it was with Eastwood. It was very powerful; it was right at the beginning of the film. People still remember that performance, and that opened a lot of doors,” said Ramos, who co-starred with Bruce Dern and Ryan O’Neal in 1978’s “The Driver,” with Eddie Murphy in 1987’s “Beverly Hills Cop II” and with Sean Penn and Robert Duvall in 1988’s “Colors.”
In recent years, Ramos had focused on theater, primarily on portraying his “first hero” in the one-man show “Geronimo: Life on the Reservation.”
“I’ve been with ‘Geronimo’ for the last six years, traveling around the country, and I hadn’t done any film probably for two years before that. My agent retired, I didn’t know how to look for an agent because I never had to, so I was just fine. I figured that I would probably just end up like I started, which was on stage . ... Then, I got an agent just by accident, had some auditions, but nothing really jumped out — and then this happened,” said Ramos, who was initially booked to appear on two episodes of “Yellowstone” instead of two seasons.
“I have no idea what the future holds, but I’ll just leave that in the hands of the Creator. And wherever this takes me, I’ll follow.”