Roger E. Mosley, who played Theodore “TC” Calvin, the helicopter pilot and friend of Tom Selleck’s character on all eight seasons of the original Magnum, PI, died Sunday. It was 83.
Mosley died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles from injuries sustained in a car accident in nearby Lynwood three days earlier, his daughter, Ch-a, told the Hollywood Reporter.
On the big screen, Mosley was most memorable as blues and folk singer Handy Leadbetter (“The Midnight Special”) in the period piece Leadbelly (1976), directed by Gordon Parks. In his review, Roger Ebert wrote that Mosley played the role “with great power” and called the film “one of the best biographies of a musician I’ve ever seen”.
Mosley also excelled in blaxploitation films, playing Goldie’s angry brother (Max Julien) in the classic The Mack (1973) and starring in Hit Man (1972), Sweet Jesus, Preacherman (1973). ) and Darktown Strutters (1975).
And in The Greatest (1977), Mosley—a burly 6-foot, 215-pounder in his prime—played Sonny Liston and was beaten by Muhammad Ali.
The likeable actor appeared in 158 of the 162 episodes of Magnum, CBS’s PI, created by Donald Bellisario and Glen A. Larson. TC was a friend of Selleck’s Thomas Magnum from their days in Vietnam. His character owned an Oahu charter helicopter company called Island Hoppers, which was useful in the series that ran from December 1980 to May 1988.
According to Mosley, Gerald McRaney was set to play TC before the producers realized they needed a person of color in the main cast. Selleck thought of Mosley from a prison film they had made together, 1973’s Terminal Island, and suggested him for the role.
The Los Angeles native was busy making movies at the time and didn’t want work on a TV show, but his agent asked him to at least do the Magnum pilot.
As Mosley recalled it, his agent told him, “It’s starring this guy Tom Selleck. Tom Selleck has done about five pilot shows… and none of them have sold. So here’s what you do, Roger: Sign up for the show, go to Hawaii, get treated well for the 20 days it takes to shoot the [pilot], you will get a lot of money and then go home. A show with Tom Selleck always fails and you’ll be fine.”
“Well, 8 1/2 years later…”
Mosley in real life was a licensed private helicopter pilot (something the producers found out after he was hired, he said) but he wasn’t allowed to fly the series.
At first, the writers had TC as the owner of a struggling helicopter business, but Mosley refused to “be the only black man in Hawaii and be broke,” he said. “And they reversed. They decided that Tom would be desperate and I would be financially well – except I always bailed him out.”
Mosley also made his character a Grambling State University graduate, a lover of books and poetry, and a guy who didn’t party.
“They [the Magnum writers] keep writing about me smoking and drinking, but I won’t,” he had said in a 1982 interview with Ebony. “I never get high, smoke or drink on the show or in real life. That’s not what I want black kids to see.”
Born on December 18, 1938, Roger Earl Mosley was raised by his mother, Eloise, in the Imperial Courts project in Watts. He was a high school wrestler and neighborhood swim coach.
As reported in a 1976 People story, Mosley studied acting under Raymond St. who had to eat ketchup sandwiches.’
Mosley stood up and yelled, “You have the audacity to tell us to eat ketchup sandwiches for our art. I know people who eat ketchup sandwiches to survive. We need someone to give us a break.”
The director invited Mosley to visit the studio the following week.
Mosley made one of his first screen appearances in 1971 in an episode of CBS’ Cannon and then had small roles in New Centurions (1972) and Hickey & Boggs (1972).
He later worked with John Wayne in McQ (1974). with James Earl Jones, Cicely Tyson and Louis Gossett Jr. in The River Niger (1976). and, as football player Puddin Patterson Sr., in Semi-Tough (1977), starring Burt Reynolds.
After Magnum, he starred opposite Nell Carter in the CBS sitcom You Take the Kids, as Coach Ricketts in Hagin’ With Mr. ABC’s Cooper and as Milt Johnson on Showtime’s Rude Awakening. He also appeared in Heart Condition (1990), Unlawful Entry (1992), Pentathlon (1994) and A Thin Line Between Love & Hate (1996).
Survivors also include his wife, Antoinette (“Toni”) — they were together for nearly 60 years — son Brandonn; grandson Austin; and Rahshan, among his many nieces and nephews
Ch-a wrote on Facebook: “We could never mourn such an amazing person. He would HATE any crying in his name. It is time to celebrate the legacy he left for us all. I love you dad. You loved me too. My heart is heavy but I am strong. I will take care of mom, your love for almost 60 years. You raised me well and I am in good hands. Rest.”
