Unfortunately, Railsback has failed to follow these two roles with any work of similar stature, despite building a lasting career in both film and television. He has demonstrated his versatility in movies like "The Golden Seal" (1983) and "Calendar Girl" (1993) but for the most part has wasted his talent on bombs like "The Blue Monkey" (1987) and "Alligator II: The Mutation" (1991). He has fared better on TV with such parts as a globe-trotting journalist in the syndicated miniseries "Spearfield's Daughter" (1986) and an acclaimed turn as Duane Barry in Fox's popular "The X-Files". He earned credits as screenwriter and executive producer for the USA Network movie "The Forgotten" (1989), in which he also acted, and inaugurated his directing career with the feature "The Spy Within" (1995), starring Scott Glenn and Theresa Russell. Railsback became a TV series regular for the first time portraying Colonel James Vice in Fox's short-lived sci-fi series "The Visitor" (1997).