Luther Gillis

Created by Reuben Leder

“Computers are for sissies!”
— Luther

A recurring figure on Magnum, P.I., veteran character actor Eugene Roche played LUTHER GILLIS, an old school private eye from St. Louis.

And I mean old school.

Luther was a rough-and-tumble throwback, a hard-drinking, two-fisted private dick right out of the fifties. Or maybe the forties. He narrated (or co-narrated) the episodes he appeared in, and much toMagnum’s dismay, was the author of the how-to guide So You Want To Be A Private Eye.

Luther was introduced in the second season episode “Luther Gillis: File #521” (October 6, 1983), traveling all the way to Hawaii on the trail of a runaway girl whose mother has also hired Magnum to find. The two join forces, although it’s clear right from the start that Luther’s bulldog-in-a-china-shop style clashed with Magnum’s more laidback approach.

Much was also made of Gillis’ complete befuddlement at all that cutting edge 1980s technology and culture, and he would stubbornly pursue his cases in the only way he knew how. The back-and-forth bickering between the two was a hoot; reminiscent of that between Jim Rockford and Lance White (whom Selleck played) in The Rockford Files, but went one step further: they had dueling voiceovers.

Luther appeared in five episodes all together, and proved to be popular enough that the second episode he appeared in, “The Return of Luther Gillis” (February 16, 1984) was considered by many as a “backdoor pilot” for a potential spin-off series. Until the producers realized that most of Luther’s charm lay almost entirely in his interplay with Magnum.

Still, the Luther episodes (there were three more) were great fun, particularly “A.A. P.I.” (October 22, 1986), which found
Magnum being awarded the local PI Of The Year Award when the emcee collapses and dies. Aided by Luther and several other P.I.s, he sets out to find the murderer, in an episode clearly based on The Rockford Files episode “Nice Guys Finish Dead,” which featured Selleck’s Lance White character.

WHAT FRESH HELL IS THIS?

• In the Magnum P.I. reboot (2018-24), Ken Jeong appeared as local private eye Luther H. Gillis in two episodes, “The Woman Who Never Died” (October 8, 2018), and “Winner Takes All” (January 20, 2019), but he seems to have no connection to the character played by Eugene Roche beyond the name and occupation.

TELEVISION

• MAGNUM, P.I.
  Episodes featuring Luther Gillis
  (1980-1988, CBS)
  Created by Donald P. Bellisario and Glen A. Larson
  Starring Tom Selleck as THOMAS S. MAGNUM
  With John Hillerman as Jonathan Quayle Higgins
  and Roger E. Mosley as T.C.
  Larry Manetti as “Rick” Orville Wilbour Wright III
  Orson Welles as The Voice of Robin Masters
  and Eugene Roche as LUTHER GILLIS
  • “Luther Gillis: File #521” (October 6, 1983)
    Writer: Reuben Leder
    Director: Virgil W. Vogel
    Starring Eugene Roche as LUTHER GILLIS
  • “The Return of Luther Gillis”
    (February 16, 1984)
    Writer: Reuben Leder
    Director: John Llewellyn Moxey
    Starring Eugene Roche as LUTHER GILLIS
  • “Luther Gillis File #001” (December 6, 1984)
    Writer: Reuben Leder
    Director: Ivan Tors
    Starring Eugene Roche as LUTHER GILLIS
  • “A.A. P.I.”
    (October 22, 1986)
    Writer: Reuben Leder
    Director: Russ Mayberry
    Starring Eugene Roche as LUTHER GILLIS
  • “Transitions”
    (February 17, 1988)
    Writer: Chris Abbott
    Director: Harry Harris
    Starring Eugene Roche as LUTHER GILLIS
• FURTHER INVESTIGATION
• Not Quite Ready for Primetime
  Pilots That Didn’t Fly & Spin-offs That Didn’t Spin
• Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
• 
•