Tom Selleck

Thomas 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..

6'4", Selleck's dark hair, chiseled good looks, muscular and hairy-chested physique, sex appeal, iconic moustache, and good sense of humor make him popular for action, drama, and comedy parts; his Magnum role was a mix of all three.

Career

After bit parts in including the over-the-top Myra Breckinridge and Russ Meyer's The Seven Minutes, Selleck won 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.

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 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.

Most recently, Selleck has appeared in a recurring role on the acclaimed ABC drama Boston Legal as Ivan Teagues, the troubled ex-husband of Shirley Schmidt (Candice Bergen).

Magnum P.I.

Tom Selleck played the role of Thomas Magnum in 1980 after six failed TV pilots. The show would go on for eight seasons and 162 episodes until 1988. Selleck would go onto to win an Emmy in 1984 and a Golden Globe in 1985 for his role as Magnum. Selleck was famous for wearing a Hawaiian-style aloha shirt and also wearing a Detroit Tigers baseball cap. In the series, Magnum would drive a Ferrari 308 GTS. Tom Selleck will not star in the upcoming Magnum P.I. film, because he has been considered too old. George Clooney, Vince Vaughn, and Ben Affleck have been rumoured for the role.

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)
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)
A Love Story (1982)
The Shadow Riders (1982)
Murder, She Wrote (1986)
Broken Trust (1995)
Ruby Jean and Joe (1996) (also executive producer)
Friends (1996)
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)
Countdown to D-Day (2004)
Stone Cold (2005) (also producer)
Night Passage (2006) (also producer)
Boston Legal (2006)

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 Rusyn father ^* and a Scottish American mother .

Is 6' 4" (1.93 m) tall.

Was a member of the California National Guard and was activated for the Watts riots.

One of only two people to have an original Hornby Eastwood 200.

Has a stepson, Kevin, and a daughter, Hannah.

Is a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.

Prior to building up a successful acting career Tom Selleck was a car salesman.

Is a Member of the Church of Christ.