Victoria Racimo, Actress in ‘Prophecy’ and ‘The Mountain Men,’ Dies at 69

Victoria Racimo, who starred in the 1979 environmental horror-thriller Prophecy and worked opposite Charlton Heston in The Mountain Men a year later, died Nov. 29 in Williamsburg, Virginia, it was announced. She was 69.

Racimo also appeared on the big screen with Don Johnson in The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart (1970), with George C. Scott in Mike Nichols’ The Day of the Dolphin (1973) and with Jim Varney in Ernest Goes to Camp (1987).

A passionate supporter of equine welfare, Racimo wrote, directed and produced the 2015 documentary One Day, about the Kentucky-based Our Mims Retirement Haven, named for a champion filly who raced in the ’70s, and she co-wrote the 2017 book All the King’s Horses: The Equestrian Life of Elvis Presley.

Racimo is perhaps best known for her turn as Ramona, a Native American who helps Robert Foxworth, Talia Shire and Armand Assante’s characters investigate environmental pollution in the woods of Maine, in John Frankenheimer’s Prophecy (1979). She followed that by portraying a woman named Running Moon in The Mountain Men (1980).

Victoria Raquel Racimo was born in New York City on Dec. 26, 1950. Her parents were in show business, and she danced in the original 1958-60 Broadway production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song.

Racimo later landed a gig as “Miss Hawaiian Punch,” even though she wasn’t Hawaiian. “I’m Filipino and Spanish on my father’s side and Irish and Lenapi Indian on my mother’s side,” she noted in a 2015 interview.

Racimo attended the High School of Performing Arts, where she studied piano, Juilliard and Columbia University before moving to Los Angeles. In 1972, she appeared with Robert Forster in Journey Through Rosebud.

She went on to have recurring roles on television in Falcon Crest and The Chisholms and appear on episodes of Mod Squad; Mannix; Kung Fu; Hawaii Five-0; Doogie Howser, M.D.; and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.

Related Stories

Related Story

Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2020