Lance White...aka TS

[308GTS]

Here's a good clip of our hero. Two of my favourite PI's in one clip...fabulous!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=210liYm_ ... ed&search=

[golfmobile]

308,

THANKS! I hadn't seen any of the Rockford Files with Lance White, so this was a real revelation to me.

It also showed me that this is really all I WANT to see of TS on TRF. I'm glad he "grew up" to MPI. Don't doubt I love TS, but this was not a likeable character -- TOO perfect. So I'm glad TS had the maturity and foresight to say MPI SHOULDN'T be like that.

Thanks again. That takes care of my jones for Lance White!

golf

[308GTS]

Your'e welcome. He was rather naive in that clip. Interestingly enough though TRF is generally regarded as having had a great influence on MPI.

The similarites are all there,

1. Neither one of them like getting into a brawl unless they have to.
2. They don't generally like using a weapon unless they have to.
3. They'd both rather be relaxing with their feet up then chasing around after hardened criminals.
4. They both rely on close friends for help with investigations.
5. They both rarerly get paid...!

[J.J. Walters]

Oh, that is cool! Havn't seen good 'ol Lance White in decades! What an annoying character, but one that works within the context of Rockford. I love seeing TS in any of his Pre-MPI roles.

Much thanks for providing the link 308GTS!

[SelleckLover]

I think that it was a brilliant bit of casting on the part of TRF to cast TS for that role. At that point in time, the sort of "leading man" material consisted of sort of anti-leading man types such as Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, DeNiro etc. I think that when casting the role of Lance White, they needed to find someone that was actually more handsome than James Garner to complete the visual superiority of the character. They also needed someone, of course, that could really act that wasn't just another "pretty face." They got that all rolled into one with TS.

TS said in his A&E Biography that he saw the way James Garner comported himself on TRF set. Garner knew all the crew members and treated everyone on the set like a family member. TS says that he decided then and there that he would do the same, and on his "good days" he wanted to be just like Garner.

[bradchambers]

You Lance White / Rockford fans (and I'm one of them, I've got all the DVDs released so far) will be excited to know that the Season 8 DVD release of MPI will include as a bonus episode the Rockford ep "White on White and Nearly Perfect". So we get Magnum and Lance White on the same DVD!

I posted in the Magnum pi talk forum all the info on the season 8 release. We get commentary this time!

[Carol the Dabbler]

Actually, I consider Lance White to be a precursor of Thomas Magnum. True, there are differences -- I didn't say Lance White *was* TM. But consider:

White's "hunches" are quite reminiscent of Magnum's "little voice."

In early episodes, Magnum is portrayed as something of a ladies' man, but as the series progressed, he became -- never a "boy scout" -- but an honorable gentleman. Come to think of it, Lance White actually was a "boy scout"! But still ....

[IKnowWhatYoureThinking]

You can see in this and the Chinese Typwriter some of the characteristics that he later uses for Magnum. They are subtle, but I believe you can see them.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I suppose I must have seen The Chinese Typewriter listed somewhere, but I didn't know anything about it. I see on Internet Move Database that it was a 1979 Stephen J. Cannell tv movie/pilot starring Tom Selleck and James Whitmore, Jr.!

Unfortunately, it seems to be hard to come by these days.

[IKnowWhatYoureThinking]

Carol if yo uget the Sleuth Channel it comes on there occasionally. I caught it around a month ago. It isn't the greatest movie in the world, but you can see TS use some of the same mannerisms that would later become trademark Magnum.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Carol, if you get the Sleuth Channel, it [The Chinese Typewriter] comes on there occasionally. ... It isn't the greatest movie in the world, but you can see TS use some of the same mannerisms that would later become trademark Magnum.

Nope, no cable, no satellite dish. Just rabbit ears!

Mostly, we watch DVD's.

[golfmobile]

CTD,

PM me your address, and I'll send you a DVD of The Chinese Typewriter. Do you want his other "pilot" one, Gypsy Warriors?

golf

[Carol the Dabbler]

1. Neither one of them like getting into a brawl unless they have to.
2. They don't generally like using a weapon unless they have to.
3. They'd both rather be relaxing with their feet up than chasing around after hardened criminals.
4. They both rely on close friends for help with investigations.
5. They both rarely get paid...!

One more similarity between Rockford and Magnum: unlike the stereotypical movie hero, when they punch a bad guy, they bruise their knuckles -- maybe that's why they don't like getting into a brawl!

[Carol the Dabbler]

Maybe nobody's mentioned this because it's just too darn obvious, but just in case --

The name Lance White was apparently chosen in reference to Sir Lancelot, the classic too-good-to-be-true "white knight" from King Arthur's Camelot.

[sophia]

I don't know if anyone mentioned this before, but I found a picture of Wayde Preston, who played Christopher Colt in Colt .45. WP also played a character named Waco in Maverick. The character Lance White was based on the character Waco.
He does resemble TS somewhat, but no dimples.
Check it out at

Peter Brown in Colt .45