Outbreak At Tinseltown's Nursing Home Claims Another Legend

WOODLAND HILLS, CA — Longtime television producer Joel Rogosin Tuesday became the latest legend of TV to die from coronavirus complications at the Motion Picture and Television Retirement Fund home, Tinseltown's retirement home in Woodland Hills.

Rogosin, whose credits include "77 Sunset Strip," "Magnum, P.I." and "Knight Rider," is the fifth MPTF resident to die from COVID-19 complications, MPTF officials announced Wednesday. He was 87-years-old. According to the county health department, 17 residents at the home have contracted the coronavirus along with a handful of staffers.

Nominated for three Emmys over the course of his decades-long career, Rogosin was remembered as someone crews loved to work with.

“Joel’s era demanded a man knew how to work with every person in the process, and by doing so, became partner in the endeavor with them rather than simply their boss. One of the great benefits of hiring Joel… his crews loved him, would follow him, and bust their asses to get it done right for him," TV producer Peter Dunne told Deadline. "Bottom line: Joel was more than a writer and producer. He was a mentor, a big brother, and the ultimate filmmaker.”

"If you're a Baby Boomer like me, maybe even from the Greatest Generation, and watched a lot of TV in the '60s, '70s, and '80s, you'd hear this name and think to yourself, `Gee, that sounds familiar? Where do I know it from?' MPTF president & CEO Bob Beitcher told The Wrap. "That's what happened to me when I first met Joel Rogosin on the Motion Picture campus right around this time in 2013. Well, you might have known his name from `The Virginian' and `77 Sunset Strip' in the '60s, or `Ironside' and `The Blue Knight' in the '70s, or `Magnum, P.I.' and `Knight Rider' in the '80s, where you would have seen a writer and producer credit for Joel Rogosin at the end of an episode."

"They didn't call them showrunners back then, but back in the days of three networks and nothing else they were the backbone of the TV industry," Beitcher added.

The coronavirus has claimed other well known artists at the nursing home this month.

Longtime character actor Allen Garfield, whose film work included memorable roles in Francis Ford Coppola's "The Conversation" in 1973 and Robert Altman's "Nashville" in 1975, died at the home on April 7. He was 80.

Disney animator Ann Sullivan, 91, died at the MPTF facility in April. Sullivan contributed to “The Little Mermaid,” “The Lion King” and “Lilo & Stitch,” among other Disney classics.

City News Service contributed to this report.