Life’s Work

Friday, Feb. 4, 2005 | 5:53 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

February 5 - 6, 2005

Former "Magnum, P.I." co-star Larry Manetti is restless.

He never stops working. More than 15 years after one of the most popular series on television ended, he refuses to sit back and take it easy.

The 57-year-old actor makes one or two films a year. He recently completed "Going Home," co-starring Lisa Hartman, which airs Feb. 14 on the Hallmark Channel, and "The Pierre Hotel Heist," with Margot Kidder, which airs March 25 on USA Network.

He lives in Woodland Hills, Calif., in a house he bought when he was in "Magnum" with Tom Selleck, but he commutes weekly to Las Vegas, where from Thursdays through Sundays he is vice president of entertainment at the Plaza, which was bought last year by his close friend David Barrick.

On Sundays, Manetti hosts a celebrity lunch at the Plaza, where three months ago he opened a restaurant, Manetti's, located in a former banquet room next to the second-floor Center Stage restaurant.

The workaholic and consummate host recently took a break for a phone interview with the Las Vegas Sun.

Las Vegas Sun: How did you end up in Las Vegas?

Larry Manetti: David Barrick and I have been in a number of business ventures over the years. Before he got the Plaza we looked at Indian gaming around the country. We looked in Mesquite and Laughlin. We were looking for a small place with gaming. We didn't think we would be lucky enough to find something in downtown Las Vegas.

Sun: And how did you end up in the restaurant business?

LM: David suggested it, kind of locked me into it, but the more I thought about it the more I liked it. I've cooked for Frank Sinatra, Ernest Borgnine, Mike Connors, Robert Wagner and a lot of others. So I put my own menu together from some family recipes, and when I opened the door two people were there. It took awhile, it took a lot of fixing of the food -- I wanted the best. Vegas is not the place to have a bad restaurant. If the food is not great, people will forget it.

Every day business increases -- I'm very strict about how the food is cooked.

Sun: You've been acting for more than 30 years. Is that what you've always wanted to do?

LM: No, I didn't always want to act. In fact I had no intentions of acting until the latter part of the '60s. I wound up in it by accident. I was dating Barbara Rucker at the time, a top model in Chicago -- later on I introduced her to Robert Urich (who died in 2002), and they started dating and eventually got married. I was happy for them.

Anyway, I went with her one day to watch her do a commercial for an airline. They had these three seats across, like inside an airplane, and the guy who was to do the shoot with her didn't show up. Because I'm not real big, the director said I would be perfect for the part -- I would make the seat look bigger.

So I sat in the seat and leaned back for 2 1/2 hours. The next thing I'm on the street in Chicago and people are recognizing me from the commercial.

Sun: What had been your plans up until then?

LM: I didn't know what I was going to do. I had a restaurant with my dad and Billy Kent, who is now departed. It was called Cockney Pride, in downtown Chicago, in the heart of the Loop. We served a continental cuisine and it had two bars. We were right on the river. Yachts pulled up, not far from the place.

Most of what I did was hang around and mingle with people. I was a free spirit. I came and left when I wanted. If I made $500 a week, I spent $700. I was dating every girl I could find."

Sun: So what did you do to pursue acting?

LM: I left Chicago in the early '70s and headed West. I drove through Texas twice -- I stopped for gas and then went the wrong way. I realized that when I smelled the stockyards again.

Sun: What did you do when you first arrived in Hollywood?

LM: I had a charmed life, still do. I got into the business pretty quickly.

I was studying acting and dancing when I wasn't working. I was the last contract player ever signed. It would be wonderful if they had the system back today. When you were under contract, they taught you the trade. I was there with the old system, and I feel very privileged. You could have Spencer Tracy sitting next to you.

Sun: What was your first series?

LM: I was hired for "Chase" in 1973. It was created by Stephen J. Cannell ("Rockford Files," "Baa Baa Black Sheep" and "The A-Team," among others). Jack Webb was the executive producer. Something happened, I don't know what, but he fired the entire cast because they were giving him trouble.

So I go to the commissary and this guy comes in, grabs me and says, "Are you a contract player?" I said, "Yes, sir," and the next thing I know I'm in a van on my way to Long Beach with a script in my hand.

Sun: Before "Magnum" (1980), what were some of the series in which you appeared?

LM: I was in three episodes of "Battlestar Galactica" in 1978. Everybody was in weird outfits. I was in a weird outfit and a helmet -- you couldn't see my face.

I was in "Baa Baa Black Sheep" on NBC, starring Robert Conrad. When that show ended he came up with "The Duke," a show about ex-prize fighters. He gave me a great character, Joe Cadillac, a bookmaker. But then Conrad was offered a show by Aaron Spelling and he jumped ship and abandoned "The Duke."

I was a little despondent, but it opened the door for me to do "Magnum."

Sun: How did "Magnum" come about?

LM: The reason I took "Magnum" was because of Don Bellisario, who had been the writer on "Baa Baa Black Sheep." He also has written for "JAG," "Quantum Leap," "CSI" and a lot of others.

Don ended up as the writer on "Magnum," which was on the air for nine years -- and it's still in reruns all over the world.

Sun: How much longer could it have lasted?

LM: I don't know how long it would have gone on. CBS offered us two more seasons, 22 shows each, plus nine two-hour "Magnum" movies. Selleck could have done them anytime, but he was burned out. We all were kind of burned out. When you're on an island that long, you lose all sense of reality. I was fed up with being locked up on an island and having a 5 1/2-hour commute home.

Sun: Do you still hang around with Selleck?

LM: Tom and I are still close friends. We were in several businesses together, including a Coors distributorship.

Sun: Was "Magnum" the first time you worked together?

LM: I knew Tom before -- in 1978 we did a two-part "Rockford Files" together.

I remember it was 6 in the morning. I was lying down onstage, trying to get some sleep. There were 2,000 extras in the audience and all of a sudden they came to a dead silence. This immense guy is walking through the crowd wearing a white suit. I knew this guy was going to take off.

Sun: I see your acting career still keeps you busy.

LM: My acting career is better than ever. I may be doing another TV series, for the USA network. I'm waiting for my call.

I'm going to be doing a movie in Chicago called "E Strangers," a takeoff on Alfred Hitchcock's "Stranger on a Train" (1951). It starred Robert Walker and Farley Granger.

Sun: How are you able to stay so busy?

LM: In between pictures I don't like to sit around, and I don't play golf.

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