Ticket 2 Ride

The subject of this week’s episode of Throwback TV is actor A Martinez.

Martinez has been a busy actor all of his life, cast in many roles as an ethnic teen, a troubled youth or who could a bit of drama to a TV show. He was a good looking kid that had an intensity about him. All these years later, that intensity is still there.

A stands for Adolfo, also the name of his father and grandfather. A was chosen to by his family to call him to avoid confusion. A also sounds a bit mysterious. His heritage is Mexican and Apache on his father’s side, and Piegan Blackfeet and Northern European on his mother’s side. In the early 1970s, there was need to cast a lot of young Latino actors in TV dramas as the face of TV was broadening its pallet.

He played casino owner Jabob Nighthorse in the A&E/Netflix series set in Wyoming. Longmire is a modern day Western that ran for six seasons.

“When I read the audition for Longmire, I knew it was something I could do better than most of the actors I compete with,” Martinez said in an interview with Messenger Mountain News. “I have so much in common with him (Jacob Nighthorse). He’s extremely well read, he has the heart of a radical, he’s got a formidable dark streak and not ashamed of his connection to the dark side. Even though I’m a lot more polite than he is, I have a similar connection to my dark side.”

Longmire helped to reverse a downturn in his career. “I’d surfaced in the soap Santa Barbara (1984-92), but when my face faded from that [young] face, it was difficult to get work for a few years,” Martinez said in an interview with AARP magazine.

His first role was in 1968 in the low budget film, The Young Animals, at age 20. He now has more than a 150 acting credits, including nine years on the daytime drama, Santa Barbara. Martinez also worked on General Hospital, One Life to Live, The Bold and the Beautiful, and Days of Our Lives.

His first noticeable role was one of the youth recruited to drive John Wayne’s cattle in The Cowboys (1972). He would guest star in just about every drama series on TV in the 1970s and 1980s, but found regular work in the daytime shows, which he continued for many years.

“I often play villains, and when you get to play one who’s educated, who has the chops of a lawyer, it feels like sitting down to a wonderful meal.”

Longmire gave Martinez a very meaty role. Even until the end of the series, viewers were wondering, is Nighthorse a good guy or a bad guy? It turns out he was both, a warrior for the Cheyenne people, but not without cutting corners and stepping outside the law. His performance was one of the best in a cast of very fine actors.

Since then, Martinez’s career has included some other popular series including Queen of the South, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Blue Ridge: The Series, The Bay, and Dark Winds.

In Dark Winds, Martinez reteams with actor Zahn McClarnon, who he worked with on Longmire.

The next time you watch Mannix, Ironside, Mission: Impossible, Bonanza, Adam-12, The Streets of San Francisco, Barnaby Jones, The Incredible Hulk, Barretta, All in the Family, Kung Fu and many others, appreciate the long and successful career of this actor.