Manetti, Larry 1947-

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MANETTI, Larry 1947-

PERSONAL: Born July 23, 1947, in Chicago, IL; married Nancy DeCarl (an actress); children: Lorenzo. Education: Studied acting with Ted List Players, Chicago, IL.

ADDRESSES: Agent—Richard Sindell, Waters & Nicolosi, 9301 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 300, Beverly Hills, CA 90210; Epstein-Wyckoff-Corsa-Ross & Associates, 280 South Beverly Dr., Suite 400, Beverly Hills, CA 90212.

CAREER: Actor and producer. Actor in television series, including (as Lieutenant Robert "Bob" Boyle) Baa Baa Black Sheep (also known as Black Sheep Squadron), National Broadcasting Company (NBC), 1976-78; (as Joe Cadillac) The Duke, NBC, 1979; and (as Orville "Rick" Wright) Magnum, P.I., Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), 1980-88. Actor in television movies, including (as football player and student) The Girl Most Likely to . . . , American Broadcasting Companies (ABC), 1973; (as Harry Pierpont) The Kansas City Massacre, ABC, 1975; (as Barry Shaw) The Take, USA Network, 1990; (as Currier) Bandit, Bandit, syndicated, 1994; (as Angel) Crowfoot, CBS, 1995; (as Larry Bonner) Subliminal Seduction (also known as The Corporation and Roger Corman Presents Subliminal Seduction), Showtime, 1996; (as Morgan) Top of the World (also known as Cold Cash and Showdown), Home Box Office (HBO), 1997; (as Paul) Scar City (also known as S.C.A.R. and Scarred City), HBO, 1998; and (as Spatz Lonegan) Monster Makers, 2003. Actor in television pilots, including (as Stan) Starsky and Hutch, ABC, 1975; (as Chip Vincent) Tenspeed and Brown Shoe, ABC, 1980; (as Orville "Rick" Wright) Magnum, P.I., CBS, 1980; and (as Vincent) Three Eyes, NBC, 1982. Appeared in television specials, including (as host) The CBS Cotton Bowl Parade, CBS, 1987; and (as himself) Magnum, P.I.: The E! True Hollywood Story, E! Entertainment Television, 2001. Guest star on television series, including The Streets of San Francisco, Emergency!, Battlestar Galactica, Hotel, Tales from the Darkside, Renegade, JAG, Quantum Leap, Marker, and Walker, Texas Ranger. Producer of television movies, including The Take, USA Network, 1990; (with others) Midnight Runaround, syndicated, 1994; (with others) Midnight Run for Your Life, syndicated, 1994; and (with others) Another Midnight Run, syndicated, 1994. Actor in films, including (as Pratt) Two-Minute Warning, Universal, 1976; (as Lengle) Snapdragon, Prism, 1993; (as Radcliffe) CIA II: Target Alexa, PM Home Video, 1994; (as Derrick Richmond) Body Chemistry 4: Full Exposure, New Horizons Home Video, 1995; (as Gersi) Fatal Pursuit, 1995; (as Haney) Exit, Republic Entertainment, 1996; (as Lewis) No Tomorrow, PM Entertainment Group, 1998; (as Billy) Time Served, Trimark, 1999; (as Thomas Grady) Hijack (also known as The Last Siege), Artisan Entertainment/Hallmark Entertainment, 1999; (as Agent Harris) The Alternate (also known as Agent of Death), Replacement Productions, 2000; Random Acts, Rainbow Releasing, 2001; and (as Sergeant C. "Chickie" Mudryck) The Stoneman, 2002.

WRITINGS:

(With Chip Silverman) Aloha Magnum: LarryManetti's Magnum, P.I. Memories, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1999.

SIDELIGHTS: Actor Larry Manetti has appeared in many films and television series over the years, but he is best known for playing Tom Selleck's sidekick in the long-running drama Magnum, P.I. Selleck, the star of the show, plays Thomas Sullivan Magnum, a Vietnam veteran who moves to Hawaii to be a private investigator after leaving the Navy. Manetti's character, Orville "Rick" Wright, is a fellow veteran who now manages the King Kamehameha beach club on Oahu and uses his contacts to help Magnum's investigations. Over a decade after Magnum, P.I. went off the air, Manetti published a memoir of his experiences on the series and in Hollywood in general: Aloha Magnum: Larry Manetti's Magnum, P.I. Memories.

Manetti was raised in Chicago, and "was as starstruck as anyone" when he visited Hollywood for the first time as a teenager, Manetti said in an interview with Teen magazine. Some of that awe at being in the presence of great stars comes through in Aloha Magnum, in which Manetti describes encounters with such legends as Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley. But the majority of the book is dedicated to Manetti's anecdotes about his and his costars escapades in Hawaii during Magnum, P.I.'s eight-season run.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

People, April 2, 1990, David Hiltbrand, review of TheTake, p. 9.

Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH), May 5, 2001, John S. Long, "Magnum Actor Takes Aim at a New Career in the Kitchen," p. E6.

Teen, May, 1981, Linda E. Watson, "Magnum, P.I.'s Larry Manetti," pp. 51-52; September, 1981, Linda E. Watson, "Teen Talks to Larry Manetti," pp. 59-60; May, 1982, "Larry Manetti," p. 54; December, 1983, "Celebrity Roundup: 'When I Was Young,'" p. 56.

TV Guide, November 25, 1983, Ben Pesta, "The Network Said: Don't Play It Again, Rick," pp. 18-21.