"We fell in love with his face," says Victoria Westover, executive producer of a film shot in Tucson. Among other roles, Nick Ramus played Black Kettle on TV's "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman."

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He looked so familiar.

Slicked back hair, broad nose, intense brown eyes, weathered face, dimpled chin.

The striking American Indian man was a regular at the coffee shop Kaysie McCallister frequented in Westlake Village, Calif. But she couldn't place Nick Ramus.

McCallister, the owner of a preschool, didn't realize Ramus had appeared in dozens of films and television shows when she approached him on a November day in 1991 and invited him to join the children at her school for a Thanksgiving feast.

"I had seen this man so often and I knew he was Native American by the way he looked and I thought he was so interesting," McCallister — now Kaysie Ramus — said. "I knew he looked familiar but it didn't dawn on me."

The actor invited Kaysie to have coffee with him and eventually agreed to visit her school.

The pair moved to Tucson together 16 years ago and wed in 1995, amid Ramus' four-year run playing Black Kettle on the TV show "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman."

After going back and forth between homes in California and horse property in Tucson for a few years, the couple settled in Southern Arizona. They lived on 20 acres on the San Pedro River near Benson where they rode horses, enjoyed the company of their dogs, and Nick raced around the property on an ATV or his dirt bike.

"He looked so funny. Here's this old guy, this old Indian, and he'd be flying around the property with his hair flying," his wife said.

In January, Ramus developed pneumonia and doctors discovered a lung tumor. Ramus was given the option of a potentially debilitating surgery to extend his life, but he refused it.

"He made the decision that he'd rather go home and ride his horse and live life the way he lived it instead of going through an operation that might leave him crippled in some way," Kaysie Ramus said. "We thought he'd have longer than he had."

Her husband died May 30 at age 77.

Ramus, who was Blackfeet Indian and Greek, was born in Seattle, but as a boy moved with his family to the Blackfeet reservation in Browning, Mont., for several years.

Ramus eventually returned to his home state and earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry with a minor in zoology, then entered medical school. After his first year, though, he dropped out and drifted down the coast.

Along the way he duked it out in boxing matches and competed in motorcycle races. In San Francisco, Ramus worked with voice and drama coaches, and started booking commercials.

After several years, he moved to Los Angeles. It was the mid-1970s and Ramus had his pick of roles in movies and on TV playing American Indian and Hispanic characters.

He had recurring roles on a number of series during his 30-year career, including: "The Chisholms," "Falcon Crest," "Capitol" and "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman." He appeared in the mini-series "Centennial" and was Mangus Colorado in the 1993 TV movie "Geronimo," which was filmed in Tucson.

He made appearances on "Gunsmoke," "Little House on the Prairie," "Northern Exposure," "MacGyver" and "Walker, Texas Ranger." He played a helmsman in "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home," an Indian chief in "The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again" and was the lead in the movie "Windwalker."

"Nick was a terrific guy and one of the most honorable people I ever met," said his former agent, Richard Heckenkamp, retired founder of Film Artists Associates. "He was a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of guy. He was a very bright guy, a very grounded guy. Very down to earth. His word was his bond — very unusual with actors."

One of Ramus' best performances, Heckenkamp said, was in 1980's "Windwalker."

"I thought it was better than 'Dances with Wolves' and any (movie) in that genre," Heckenkamp said, even though the film didn't get a lot of recognition because it didn't have a well-known actor in the lead.

Ramus, a father of three, had mostly retired by the time he and his wife moved to Benson in 2002, although he occasionally still performed a one-man show, "An Evening with Sitting Bull," that he penned in the 1990s.

Last year, Ramus took a small part in the local independent film "Alma," about a Mexican-immigrant teenager who doesn't know she's undocumented.

"We fell in love with his face. It was just a beautiful face. He gives a totally charming performance," said "Alma" executive producer Victoria Westover, program director for the Hanson Film Institute at the University of Arizona.

Ramus' acting and attitude impressed the filmmakers, who cast him in another movie, though he died before filming began.

Fan letters still make their way to the Ramuses' Benson ranch. Many of the television shows in which he appeared are playing in syndication now.

"He gets requests all the time for autographed photos," Kaysie Ramus said. "That's hard for me now. I hate opening his mail because I have to write back and tell them."

Carol Rhodes didn't know Ramus as an actor. She met him and his wife through their mutual interest in horses. The trio spent many mornings riding trails and breakfasting together.

"To describe Nick in words is almost impossible. There were so many facets to his personality," she said. "I would always feel refreshed by Nick's personality. You felt enriched every time you saw Nick."