Tom Selleck has had a long and very successful career in show business. The Magnum, P. Iย andย Blue Bloods star is still passionate about his work โ the next season of the successful drama series will actually air soon.
Selleck has played many demanding roles over the years. But the 77-year-old has a history of performing his own stunts โ a point which has unfortunately come back to haunt him.ย
Tom Selleck wasnโt sure that he wanted to be an actor growing up. Born January 29, 1945, in Detroit, Michigan, his family moved to California, where he grew up in the San Fernando Valley.
Tom Selleck โ early life
Selleck dreamt about enrolling at the University of Southern California (USC), but his family couldnโt afford the cost of tuition.
In 1962, he graduated from Grant High School. After enrolling at Los Angeles Valley College, he decided to live at home with his parents to save money.
In his early days, it seemed more likely that Tom was to have a career in athletics instead of acting. He was an up-and-coming basketball player and dreamt about going pro. With that in mind, one can only imagine how happy he was after being awarded a basketball scholarship at the University of Southern California.
โI never did school plays. I had no interest,โ Tom toldย AARPย in 2015.
But playing basketball at a high college level was easier said than done. As reported byย KSL, he scored just four points in seven games for the USC Trojans during the 1965-1966 season. The year after that, he was scoreless in three games.
An excerpt from USCโs school guide reads that Tom was an โagile and quick performer who adds depth on front line. Business administration major is good jumper with fine mobility. Rapidly improving shooter has impressed coaches with his hustle in practice. Needs to work on defense.โ
But in the end, Tom simply couldnโt compete with his bigger, taller teammates.
โI was pretty good, but I wasnโt good enough,โ Selleck recalled.
Tom Selleck โ start of acting career
In the back of his mind, Selleck understood that basketball probably wasnโt going to be his future career. However, he had a backup plan, and took a side job to help pay his tuition. The aspiring student first landed a couple of gigs in television commercials and appeared onย The Dating Game.
Looking back, it wasnโt his proudest moment, but it would affect this future more than he ever couldโve imagined.
โHumiliating and embarrassing,โ he recalled of being on the dating show. โI lost. Twice. I wasnโt particularly funny or glib.โ
Shortly after, though, Selleck was offered a spot on 20th Century Foxโs talent program. He started crafting his skills, but after two years, he took leave to do six months of active duty.
Upon returning, Selleck was dropped. But instead of giving up, he was confident that he would make it as an actor.
In the early 1970s, he landed smaller parts in many television series. Then, approaching his mid-30s, Selleck starred in six television pilots. Despite that, his big breakthrough didnโt arrive.
According to Tom himself, that was why many thought he was an overnight success when he landed the role of Thomas Magnum inย Magnum, P. I.
Breakthrough on โMagnum P. Iโ
In reality, he had struggled and fought desperately hard.
โThe luckiest thing that happened was that I didnโt get a real job until I was 35,โ Selleckย explained.
โWhen I was 25, I looked 35 but sounded 15. There are a lot of very good actors who make it as younger leading men but donโt graduate โ because the audience wonโt accept them as grown up.โ
Magnum, P. Iย became a huge success. The crime drama television series aired between 1980 and 1988, and it brought Tom instant celebrity status. He was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series five years in a row โ he finally won it in 1984.
For more than a decade, Selleck had struggled to make it as an actor, and he was close to giving up.
โI think ifย Magnumย hadnโt worked out, Iโd never have worked again in this business,โ heย admitted.
Tom reached cult status throughย Magnum, and his career ever since has been nothing short of an incredible success story. Other credits include films such asย Three Men and a Babyย andย In & Out. He was also introduced to a new generation of fans when he starred as Monica Gellerโs older boyfriend, Richard Burke, beginning in Season 2 of the hit comedy seriesย Friends.ย
In 2010, Selleck got the role of Frank Reagan on the drama seriesย Blue Bloods, which opened a new and exciting chapter for the actor. The show has just been renewed for its 13th season, which will premiere this fall.
Tom Selleckโs struggles with back pain
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Selleck has a net worth of around $45 million.
In many films and series, actors have their own stunt-person. Often it can be a dangerous job, but for a small few, having someone else perform their stunts is simply out of the question.
Selleckโs done most of his stunts himself in the past, but that has come at a cost. He says his body is not what it used to be.
โMy backโs kind of messed up,โ Selleck shared.
โWhen you do stunts in moviesโI do a lot of themโyouโre taking a risk, but youโre also sitting around a lot. So you might do a fight scene, and then you sit in your chair, and itโs not like you have a personal trainer saying, โOkay, weโre ready to go, but Tom needs ten minutes of stretching and warm-up.โ
โAnd I think the price,โ he added, โI see it with peers, I talk to them sometimes. You just see the price of all those stunts. They werenโt that hard, but I think itโs the stop-and-go of all that stuff.โ
Selleck once revealed that he doesnโt like going to the gym, though heโs trying to keep fit by working at the family ranch in Ventura, California.
โI have a 63-acre ranch, and I do not all, but a lot of, the grunt work. Clearing brush, planting trees. Weโve got about a hundred ancient oaks I planted. Iโve probably planted a thousand trees myself.โ
Tom Selleck โ wife, marriage, daughter Hannah
It goes without saying that Tomโs career is one to admire. But another thing to celebrate is his loyalty to hisย wife, Jillie Mack. While many celebrity marriages come and go, the pair have been happily married for 35 years.
In an interview with Closer Weekly, Selleck recalled the first time he met Jillie Mack at a performance of the musicalย Cats, in which Mack was starring. It was the 1980s, after Selleckโs decade-long marriage to model Jacqueline Ray ended.
While Selleck says heโs not as smooth with the ladies as his on-screen counterparts, he approached his future wife backstage, though she was the one who made the first move.
โShe had to go on [stage]. I was hemming and hawing, and she finally asked, โDo you want to meet for a cocktail?โโ Selleckย recalled.
The date apparently went well, and Selleck and Mack were married in 1987 in a private ceremony. One year after their wedding, their daughter Hannah was born.
Ever since, Selleck has put his family ahead of stardom and has tried to keep his personal life out of the Hollywood spotlight.
โI quit Magnum to have a familyโ
In fact, he even let his acting career take a back seat to ensure he had adequate time to spend with his wife and beloved daughter.
โI quit Magnum to have a family,โ Tom Selleck toldย Peopleย in 2012.
โIt took a long time to get off the train, but I try very hard to have balance, and this ranch has helped me do that.โ
โWe both thought it was the best environment for Hannah to grow up,โ Jillie Mack added.
Tom โ a great fan of nature and the outdoors โ was keen on sharing his passion with his daughter. Soon enough, heโd passed it on to her!
Tom and his wife Jillie live on the 65-acre ranch in Ventura, and it was there Hannah was brought up. Both father and daughter share a passion for horses; later on, the two had a side business breeding horses. Hannah moved on to pursue riding professionally, and boy, did she do well.
Over the years, sheโs qualified for several grand Prix level competitions, collecting several medals.
Hannah Selleck finished top-five in St. Moritz, Switzerland; Belgium; the Netherlands; and the Canadian Pacific Grand Prix at the 2015 Longines Masters of Los Angeles.
Passion for horses
Unfortunately, Selleck shattered her tibia and fibula in a 2018 incident. As a result, she was told that she might not even be able to run again โ but luckily, that wasnโt the case.
Later, she translated her passion for horses into a highly successful breeding and training operation named Descanso Farm. Hopefully, she and father Tom will be able to keep their passion for horses intact for many years.
Tom Selleck will always have a special place in our hearts, and we wish him and his family good health and prosperity for many years to come.,
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