Gillian Dobb Movies

In the concluding half of Magnum, P.I.'s final episode, Magnum (Tom Selleck) wrestles with the prospect of returning to active Naval service even as he lays a trap for the man who assaulted his former girlfriend Linda (Patrice Martinez). He also receives word that his daughter Lily, presumed murdered in an earlier episode, is still alive. Elsewhere, the impending marriage of Rick (Larry Manetti) and Cleo (Phyllis Davis) hits a few prenuptual snags, while T.C. (Roger E. Mosley) is unexpectedly reunited with his ex-wife Tina (Fay Hauser). And last but not least, the mystery of Robin Masters' true identity is finally solved...maybe. One of the highest-rated "finales" in network TV history, this episode leaves enough dangling plot strands to suggest that the producers had an elaborate "reunion" movie in mind. We're still waiting. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season Seven of Magnum, P.I comes to spectacular conclusion--one that was originally intended to be the series' final episode. Wounded in a violent shootout, the comatose Magnum (Tom Selleck) hovers between life and death. From his vantage point in "Limbo", Magnum tries to communicate with his friends, to warn them that his ex-wife Michelle may soon be murdered. Coming to Magnum's rescue--in a manner of speaking--is the spectre of his old Navy buddy "Mac" MacReynolds (Larry Manetti). Though Magnum, P.I. had indeed been cancelled at the end of its seventh season, the series was brought back the following year by public demand--necessitating a hasty "rethinking" of this episode's now-famous closing image. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It had been assumed by the producers of Magnum, P.I. that the series would be canceled at the end of its seventh season, thus a two-part finale was written in which the hero, Hawaii-based private eye Thomas Magnum (Tom Selleck), was shot and killed, his soul ascending to heaven. However, the series was renewed for an eighth and final season -- which is why it is explained in that season's opener that Magnum was merely wounded, and that his journey to paradise was but a feverish nightmare! That said, the adventures of Magnum, his boss-by-proxy Higgins (John Hillerman), and his Navy buddies T.C. (Roger E. Mosley) and Rick (Larry Manetti), roll along in their customary thrilling and sometimes tongue-in-cheek fashion, until the end of the season -- which in this case is the climax of the series. On this occasion, the viewer finally learns the identity of Robin Masters, the elusive author for whom Magnum has been working the past eight years. And, among other things, Magnum is reunited with his long-estranged daughter, and decides to forsake civilian life for good and all to re-up with the Navy. (At least, that appears to be what happens. On this series, who can be certain?) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Barbara Rush guest stars as Magnum's beloved Aunt Phoebe, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright known for her extremely vivid imagination. When Phoebe insists that she is being stalked by a murderer, Magnum (Tom Selleck) wonders if the old dear is suffering from the early stages of Alzheimers'. As it turns out, she is--but that doesn't necessarily mean that her life isn't in danger. As an added complication, Magnum must do all of his investigating on the sly: thanks to a bureaucratic oversight, his detective's license has expired. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Magnum's ex-wife Michelle (Marta DuBois), introduced in the previous episode Memories are Forever (clips from which are seen in the course of this story), comes back into the detective's life. Having left her husband, a high-ranking Vietnamese officer, Michelle is on the lam from a gang of uniformed assassins. Pausing in mid-flight, Michelle leaves her 5-year-old daughter Lily (Kristen Carreira) with Magnum (Tom Selleck)--who begins to wonder if Lily is actually his own child. (More than one observer has noted that the famously "impenetrable" security system at Robin's Nest is surprisingly inadequate in this episode!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Because of a typically silly misunderstanding, Magnum (Tom Selleck) and Higgins (John Hillerman) are locked in a wide-ranging "war or wills", in which each one tries to top the other with practical jokes, public humiliation and trashing of personal property. This battle of reciprocal destruction tends to slow down Magnum's current investigation of a big-time gambling ring, but he insists upon soldiering on. Ultimately, the two combatants face off for a showdown--only to find themselves trapped in an elevator just before the building around them is to be demolished! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having moved from Thursdays to Saturdays to Tuesdays in previous seasons, Magnum, P.I. settles upon a Wednesday-night CBS slot for its seventh season on the air. While the show itself has been shifting about quite a bit of late, several things remain constant. Private eye Thomas Magnum (Tom Selleck) continues to work as security chief of the Oahu estate owned by celebrated (and never-seen) author Robin Masters, with Masters' stuffy manservant Higgins (John Hillerman) persisting in his efforts to get Magnum to behave himself and play by the rules. And as before, Magnum is frequently aided in his investigations by his Vietnam buddies T.C. (Roger E. Mosley) and Rick (Larry Manetti). Of the many season-seven episodes, several are standouts, notably "A.A.P.I.," in which Magnum and fellow gumshoe Luther Gillis (Eugene Roche) attend the 14th Annual Convention of Private Investigators, where they meet TV producer Stephen J. Cannell as security guard Ray Lemon, and Magnum semi-regular Elisha Cook Jr., normally cast as wizened underworld character Ice Pick, reprising his "Wilmer" role from the 1941 classic The Maltese Falcon! "Novel Connection" finds Magnum briefly teaming up with mystery writer Jessica Fletcher of Murder, She Wrote fame, with Angela Lansbury (who else?) guesting as Jessica. "Murder by Night" is the season's obligatory "homage" episode, set in the 1940s and filmed in the style of a black-and-white Bogart epic; "Solo Flight" is a reworking of season four's "Home From the Sea," with Magnum trapped in a perilous situation (his legs are caught under the wreckage of a plane), forcing him to relive past events in his mind, courtesy of excerpts from previous episodes. And in "Little Girl Who," Magnum discovers that he may have had a daughter with his first wife, Michele, a five-year-old girl named Lily Hue. Inasmuch as the producers were certain that Magnum, P.I. would be canceled at the end of its seventh season, a surrealistic two-part finale titled "Limbo" was conceived in which Magnum is shot dead, whereupon his soul ascends to heaven. Imagine their surprise when the series was renewed for an eighth year, requiring an extremely hasty "explanation" as to why the protagonist has suddenly returned to life! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It was perhaps inevitable that, somewhere along the line in Magnum, P.I.,Higgins (John Hillerman) would end up emulating his namesake Professor Henry Higgins, the hero of Shaw's "Pygmalion"--which of course was the source material for the musical hit "My Fair Lady." In this episode, Higgins takes on the job of transforming his punk-rocker cousin Sally Ponting (played by Jillie Mack, future wife of series star Tom Selleck) into a proper lady in time for her marriage to wealthy young Timothy Finch (David Traylor). Meanwhile, Magnum (Tom Selleck) is kept busy tracking down the con artist who caused Higgins' friend Agatha (Gillian Dobb) to lose her life savings in a crooked investment scheme. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Normally based in Hawaii, Magnum, P.I. launches its sixth season with a jaunt to Merrie Old England, where private detective Thomas Magnum (Tom Selleck) and his boss-by-proxy Higgins (John Hillerman) have been assigned to oversee the London estate owned by their mutual employer, the celebrated (and never-seen) author Robin Masters. Upon his return to Oahu, Magnum resumes his usual duties, acting as security at Masters' Hawaiian estate and accepting whatever "outside" P.I. jobs come his way. Season six has many highlights, among them the near-surrealistic episode "The Kona Winds," in which everybody in the cast behaves in a thoroughly unexpected manner -- including Magnum, who enters into an affair with a married woman. Another semi-fantasy installment, "Rapture," involves what appears to be a scuba-diving ghost. In "The Hotel Dick," Magnum leaves Masters' employ for a less glamorous job as house detective at the Hawaiian Gardens Hotel -- and in the course of events rather uncharacteristically admits to needing glasses to read. Gwen Verdon guest stars in "Going Home," in which Magnum returns to his hometown only to get enmeshed in a bitter feud. And in "Mad Dogs and Englishmen," Higgins is accused of theft and fired from the Masters estate -- but what appears to be happening, isn't. The season ends with "Photo Play," guest-starring Cassie Yates in the recurring role of photographer Sally Faraday, whose arrival in Hawaii proves disastrous for everyone within Magnum's circle of friends. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Higgins (John Hillerman) enthusiastically mounts a production of Gilbert & Sullivan's "The Mikado" to entertain his distinguished visitor Sir Cedric Brooke (Terence Knapp). Meanwhile, Magnum is hired by Sally DeForrest (Kay Lenz) to locate her brother Eric (Christopher Mitchum), who has apparently been spirited away by a religious cult. The two plotlines converge--or more accurately, collide--when Sally is invited to sing a major role in Higgins' operetta, thereby setting the stage (no pun intended) for a not-so-melodic political assassination. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Samantha Eggar guest stars as psychic Laura Bennett, who has been experiencing eerie visions of her own murder. Though skeptical about Laura's ability to foretell the future, Magnum agrees to provide protection to the woman, while simultaneously attempting to collect his fee from a shifty previous client (Kenneth Mars). Need we add that both of Magnum's seemingly unconnected missions are inextricably linked together by episode's end? Meanwhile, Higgins (John Hillerman) becomes more insufferable than usual as he tries to put together a fundraising variety show. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the first episode of Magnum, P.I's two-part Season Five opener, Magnum (Tom Selleck) is hired by socialite Diane Dupres (a pre-Basic Instinct Sharon Stone) to protect her from her evil twin sister Deidre. Magnum's client claims that Deidre has been a psychotic ever since she was kidnapped as a child, and now she intends to "purge" herself by murdering Diane. Meanwhile, a flustered Higgins likewise has "double trouble" when he ends up engaged to two women: his old friend Agatha Chumley (Gillian Dobb) and his former flame Lady Ashley (Carolyn Seymour). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Eugene Roche makes his first appearance as Luther H. Gillis, a seedy "old school" private eye from St. Louis. Arriving in Hawaii on a missing-persons case, Luther manages to drag Magnum (Tom Selleck) into the proceedings--and as a result, both men are suspected in the murder of a drug dealer whose body is found in a cheap motel room. Along the way, it turns out that the person Luther is looking for his own daughter Nancy (Melora Hardin), who may not be the helpless kidnap victim she's supposed to be. In an amusing break from Magnum, P.I tradition, this episode is alternately narrated by both Thomas Magnum and Luther H. Gillis, in each man's unique style and P.O.V. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide