It's been over 30 years since the original Magnum, P.I. aired its final episode, but
it's never too late to appreciate the lives of the actors who helped bring this fun crime
series to life for millions of fans.
From the leading man to the supporting characters, here's what happened to the cast of Magnum,
P.I.
Magnum, P.I. would've simply been impossible without Thomas Sullivan Magnum IV, a Vietnam
war veteran-turned-private investigator.
While sporting an exquisite mustache, Tom Selleck pulled off this role with panache,
while injecting his performance with a healthy dose of rakish charm.
Though Magnum remains Selleck's best-known role, he'd already been acting for many years
prior on screens both big and small.
And post-P.I., he's continued working consistently, most recently as NYPD Police Commissioner
Frank Reagan in the CBS cop drama Blue Bloods.
Outside of acting, he manages to keep himself equally busy.
In 2019, it was announced that he was working on a memoir that would cover his fifty-year
showbiz career as well as his life outside of the spotlight.
“Magnum is still in a hundred countries, and it's not dated.
My shorts are dated.
They're a little short."
One of Magnum's compatriots in his investigations is helicopter charter pilot Theodore Calvin,
affectionately known as "T.C."
The beloved character was played by the now mostly-retired Roger E. Mosley, who'd been
acting for nearly a decade before landing the role.
Though the bulk of his acting career ended in 2010, he made a special appearance as barber
John Booky on the Magnum, P.I. reboot.
This cameo surely provided longtime fans of the original show a sense of amused satisfaction
as he bequeathed wisdom onto the new series' T.C., played by Stephen Hill.
Mosley's personal life is less in the news these days than the more famous Selleck.
But it's certainly worth noting that at the time of shooting Magnum, P.I., he was actually
a licensed helicopter pilot in real life, Mosley turned 80 in 2018, and he's now living
in relative obscurity after a long and productive career, hopefully enjoying his retirement
to the fullest.
As played by Larry Manetti, Rick Wright was the owner of the King Kamehameha Club, a favorite
hangout of Magnum's.
Manetti had previously had recurring roles on other TV series, including the original
Battlestar Galactica.
But he's certainly best known for playing Rick, a former war buddy of Magnum and T.C.
Manetti continued acting up through 2016, including a recurring role on the rebooted
Hawaii Five-O as Nicky Demarco, a star from the eighties who excels at living the island
life, even when it's riddled with crime.
In addition to acting, Manetti is the author of the book Aloha Magnum, which details his
experiences on the set of Magnum, P.I.
He's also the host of his own radio show on CRN Talk Radio.
And he even once had his hand in a real-life restaurant, the Black Orchid in Honolulu,
which he opened with Tom Selleck and Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen in 1988 before eventually
selling the place in 1992.
No relationship on Magnum, P.I. was as intriguing to fans as the one between Magnum and John
Hillerman's Jonathan Quayle Higgins III.
He was the caretaker of the beachfront estate Robin's Nest, where Magnum led his leisurely
lifestyle.
Magnum and Higgins start out the series at odds, with Higgins's buttoned-up attitude
serving as a sharp contrast to Magnum's beer-swigging, cap-wearing looseness.
But in time, the two formed a begrudging respect for each other, and that was in no small way
the result of Hillerman's fine acting abilities.
Already a good deal older than his co-stars, Hillerman brought British sophistication to
the show, despite actually hailing from Texas.
He started his screen career in 1970, and he had extensive theater experience before
that.
He notched a fair share of notable supporting roles in a number of classic films, such as
Chinatown and Blazing Saddles.
Hillerman remained in Hollywood after Magnum, P.I., though he never again took on any roles
that suited him quite as well as Higgins.
He retired in 1999, with his last film credit being 1996's A Very Brady Sequel.
He passed away in 2017 at the age of 84.
"My son was first mate on that boat.
So thanks to you I'll never see my boy, Gilligan, again."
What's a TV show about private investigators without an attorney?
Kathleen Lloyd played the recurring role of assistant district attorney Carol Baldwin,
a good friend of Magnum's who tried to no avail to pursue a romance with him.
Interestingly enough, before taking on the role of Carol, Lloyd made a guest appearance
in an earlier episode as a one-off character named Bridget Archer.
Lloyd had some notable credits before taking on the part of Carol, including the 1976 Western
The Missouri Breaks alongside Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson.
Younger audiences might recognize her post-P.I. roles on such shows as The Practice and Babylon
5.
Her last on-screen credit was in 2004, so we hope she's been enjoying her retirement
from showbiz after nearly 35 years in the industry!
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