# The 1987 role Robert Patrick called the backbone of his entire career: “I’m not shitting ya!”

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/the-1987-role-robert-patrick-called-the-backbone-of-his-entire-career-im-not-shitting-ya/
- Published: 2026-11-08T02:30:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-08T04:04:22+00:00
- Original publisher: Far Out
- Original article: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/1987-role-robert-patrick-called-backbone-entire-career/
- Topics: Music

## Key points

- Patrick calls his 1987 role as Johnny Ransom the backbone of his career.
- The role helped him learn to perform in front of a film camera.
- He connects it to later military characters in film and television.

## Summary

Robert Patrick says his first substantial film role, Corporal Johnny Ransom in two 1987 action films, laid the groundwork for his later career. The actor, now widely known for roles including the T-1000 in *Terminator 2*, credits the work with teaching him how to perform for the camera.

Patrick was homeless and working as a waiter when an audition at Roger Corman’s studio led to a role in *Warlords from Hell*, which helped him land parts in *Behind Enemy Lines* and *Eye of the Eagle*. The films were low-budget productions shot in the Philippines, but Patrick says playing Ransom prepared him for later military characters in *The Unit*, *Last Resort* and *Gangster Squad*.

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