With the exception of his feature debut in Elia Kazan's "The Visitors" (1972) and a small role in "The Cockfighter" (1974), stage-trained Steve Railsback spent the first ten years of his career working in the theater. While studying with Lee Strasberg at NYC's Actors Studio, he came to the attention of Kazan and later acted in plays directed by Arthur Penn, Jose Quintero and Shelley Winters that ranged from the moodiness of Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" to the zaniness of Thorton Wilder's "The Skin of Our Teeth" (1975). Railsback received international acclaim for his chilling portrayal of
