Tom Selleck
Tom Selleck (born January 29 1945, in Detroit, Michigan) is an American actor best known for his starring role on the long-running television show Magnum P.I..
Rising to 6'4", Selleck's dark hair, muscular and hairy-chested physique, sex appeal, trademark moustache, and good sense of humor make him very popular with John Gross.
After bit parts in film and TV as a contract actor for Universal Studios including Myra Breckinridge and a couple of failed pilots Selleck was awarded the role of Magnum that became a huge hit. Ironically Selleck, after years of little interest, was cast as Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark that same year. Magnum's producers would not release the actor and he had to pass on the role, which then went to Harrison Ford.
Selleck starred in a number of film roles during and after Magnum; among the most notable were as an acrophobic police detective in Runaway and as a stand-in father in Three Men and a Baby. He also played the lead role in the Australian western Quigley Down Under. However, he never quite developed into a major film star, nor was he able to reestablish himself as the star of a regular TV series.
Selleck had a very successful recurring guest-star television role on the popular sitcom "Friends" as "Richard", an ophthalmologist friend of Monica Geller's father and, eventually, one of Monica's (ex-)boyfriends. Selleck also had a recurring role in the 1970s as Lance White in The Rockford Files. Lance was very trusting and always lucky, much to the surprise of Jim Rockford, the show's star private eye played by James Garner. Selleck's character was based on one played in Garner's earlier TV series Maverick (1957) by Selleck lookalike Wayde Preston in that series' highest-rated episode, "The Saga of Waco Williams."
Selleck has also appeared in a number of made-for-TV movies in recent years. In particular, he has sought to help bring back to popularity the western, often playing one of that genre's typical characters but thrust into a modern context.
Surprising many of his fans, Selleck unexpectedly played the role of General Dwight D. Eisenhower in the History Channel's 2004 made-for-TV movie Ike: Countdown to D-Day. The movie showed the planning, politics, and preparation for the 1944 Invasion of Normandy, and Selleck was critically lauded for playing a cool, calm Eisenhower.
Selleck is one of the few open conservatives in Hollywood. He is an outspoken member of the National Rifle Association, and in a well known incident he was verbally attacked by Rosie O'Donnell on her television show over his support of the NRA (before the show, she had promised not to bring up the subject, but says her temper got the best of her). Selleck is a libertarian and is a registered Independent. He has appeared numerous times at fundraisers for the National Review, a conservative opinion magazine.
Selleck was married to actress Jacquelyn Ray from 1970 to 1982. He adopted Ray's son from a previous marriage, Kevin. He married actress Jillie Mack on August 7, 1987, and they have one daughter, Hannah. Selleck received an honorary doctorate from Pepperdine University. He was chosen because of his outstanding character and ethics. He is a board member of the non-profit Michael Josephson Institute of Ethics and co-founder of the Character Counts Coalition. He was chosen by People Magazine in 1998 as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world.
Selleck enlisted in the National Guard in 1966 and served in the infantry.
Filmography
- Myra Breckinridge (1970)
- The Seven Minutes (1971)
- Daughters of Satan (1972)
- Shadow of Fear (1973)
- Terminal Island (1973)
- Midway (1976)
- The Washington Affair (1977)
- Coma (1978)
- The Gypsy Warriors (1978)
- High Road to China (1983)
- Lassiter (1984)
- Runaway (1984)
- Three Men and a Baby (1987)
- Her Alibi (1989)
- An Innocent Man (1989)
- Quigley Down Under (1990)
- Three Men and a Little Lady (1990)
- Folks! (1992)
- Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992)
- Mr. Baseball (1992)
- The Magic of Flight (1996) (short subject) (narrator)
- Open Season (1996)
- In & Out (1997)
- The Love Letter (1999)
Television Work
- The Movie Murderer (1970)
- A Case of Rape (1974)
- The Young and the Restless (cast member from 1974-1975)
- Returning Home (1975)
- Most Wanted (1976)
- Bunco (1977)
- Superdome (1978)
- The Chinese Typewriter (1979)
- The Sacketts (1979)
- The Concrete Cowboys (1979)
- Magnum, P.I. (1980-1988)
- Divorce Wars: A Love Story (1982)
- The Shadow Riders (1982)
- Broken Trust (1995)
- Ruby Jean and Joe (1996) (also executive producer)
- Last Stand at Saber River (1997) (also executive producer)
- The Closer (1998) (canceled after 10 episodes)
- Running Mates (2000)
- Crossfire Trail (2001) (also executive producer)
- Monte Walsh (2003) (also executive producer)
- Twelve Mile Road (2003)
- Reversible Errors (2004)
- Ike: Countdown to D-Day (2004)
- Stone Cold (2005) (also producer)
- Night Passage (2006) (also producer)
Trivia
- Selleck screen-tested for, but had to turn down the role of, Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark due to scheduling conflicts with "Magnum P.I.". The role went to Harrison Ford instead. Selleck later went on to star in High Road to China, one of the many adventure films inspired by the success of Raiders that emerged in the early to mid-1980s.
- In the early 1990s, Selleck had a press conference to say that he was not gay after a Queer Nation poster allegedly tried to out him. Years later, he played an openly gay character in In & Out with Kevin Kline.
- He was born to a Slovak father [1] and a Scottish American mother [citation needed].