Tom Selleck (Thomas Magnum - Magnum, P.I.)

Tom Selleck

Tom Selleck as Magnum

Tom Selleck - Biography // Filmography // Pictures // Links
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Tom Selleck - Biography

Date of birth: January 29, 1945
Place of birth: Detroit, Michigan, USA

Height:
 6'4"

Spouse:
Jacquelyn Ray Selleck (actress, model); married 1970; separated 1979, six months before Selleck filmed the Magnum, p.i. pilot; divorced 1982
Jilly Joan Mack (actress, dancer); married 1987; subsequently divorced

Family:
Father: Robert Selleck, real-estate investor; served as a first vice president of Coldwell Banker; portrayed Selleck's grandfather on Magnum, p.i.; serves Selleck Properties in an advisory capacity
Mother: Martha Selleck, homemaker
Brother: Robert Selleck Jr, real-estate developer; partners with brother Dan in Selleck Properties
Brother: Dan Selleck, real-estate developer
Stepson: Kevin, born 1966; son from Selleck's first wife's previous marriage
Daughter: Hannah Margaret Mack Selleck, born 1989; mother, Jilly Mack

Education:
University of Southern California in Los Angeles
Studied acting at The Beverly Hills Playhouse with Milton Katselas

Awards:
 1983/84: Emmy: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, Magnum, p.i.

Factoid:
 Was once a USC campus representative for United Airlines.
Was a member of the California National Guard and was activated for the Watts riots.
Used to be part owner of The Black Orchid restaurant with Larry Manetti and one other investor in Honolulu, HI.

 

Biography:
Tall, athletic and brawny with wavy dark hair, a craggily handsome face, eyes sparkling with intelligence and wit and a broad easy smile, Tom Selleck looks as if he were born to be a movie star. Indeed, he was among Hollywood's hottest television sex symbols of the eighties, and yet, despite his charisma and charm, he has yet to translate his popularity into a major screen career. Born in Detroit, but raised in Los Angeles, Selleck did modelling work and attended the University of Southern California on an athletic scholarship; he majored in business administration, however a drama coach he suggested he try acting.

Selleck made his feature film debut as a studly secretary in the abysmal but campy Myra Breckinridge (1970) after signing a seven year contract with Fox studios. Through the '70s, Selleck had small roles in a few feature films, worked in commercials and appeared as a guest star on television with his largest role on the soap opera The Young and the Restless. Later in the decade, he was a semi-regular between 1979 and 1980 on the popular Rockford Files, starring James Garner. He did however have a major role in the two-part television western saga The Sacketts in 1979, but it would not be until 1980 that Selleck would get his big break playing laid-back mustachioed Hawaiian shirt-wearing private detective Thomas Magnum in the series Magnum, P.I. The top-rated show was perfectly suited to Selleck's style and during it's eight year run made the hunky actor a major television star and the winner of an Emmy and a Golden Globe award.

But TV stardom did not come without a price for Selleck who lost out on the opportunity to play Indiana Jones in George Lucas's lucrative Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) because the Magnum, P.I. producers would not release him from the show. Later they eased up and Selleck was able to star in television movies and feature films such as Lassiter (1984). In 1987, Selleck appeared in the film for which he is best known, Three Men and a Baby in which he played a playboy architect who goes gaga over a baby girl who was abandoned on the doorstep of the apartment he shared with fellow yuppie bachelors, Ted Danson and Steve Guttenberg. Selleck's scenes with the baby stole the show and at last it looked as if he were going to make it in the movies. But this did not happen; his next few films, including Quigley Down Under (1991) and Mr. Baseball (1992) were only somewhat popular. Perhaps his lack of solid success was due to the fact that he too closely associated to his Magnum character -- something which he trying hard to get away from -- or maybe, it's that Selleck too often seems to playing himself or a caricature thereof. His attempt to reprise his role in the sequel Three Men and a Little Lady (1990) did nothing to boost his movie career. Still Selleck carries on and still appears on television and in the occasional feature film. He has branched out into television producing and helped revitalize Burt Reynold's flagging career with the television series B.L. Stryker (1989-90). Through the mid '90s, Selleck was a recurring guest on the sitcom Friends. In 1997, Selleck revitalized his own movie career by playing the gay news anchor who helps a sexually confused Kevin Kline in the comedy In and Out.
-- (Sandra Brennan, All-Movie Guide)

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Tom Selleck - Biography // Filmography // Pictures // Links
Aloha Magnum : Larry Manetti's Magnum, P.I. Memories
Magnum, p.i. Main Page

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Tom Selleck - Filmography

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Tom Selleck - Biography // Filmography // Pictures // Links
Aloha Magnum : Larry Manetti's Magnum, P.I. Memories
Magnum, p.i. Main Page

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Tom Selleck - Pictures

Click here for some pictures from my   Magnum, p.i. Main Page

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Tom Selleck - Biography // Filmography // Pictures // Links
Aloha Magnum : Larry Manetti's Magnum, P.I. Memories
Magnum, p.i. Main Page

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Tom Selleck Links

farrahfan's Tom Selleck Page

Elizabeth's Tom Selleck Page

Mr Showbiz Celebrities: Tom Selleck Profiles

Links to Magnum pages with Tom Selleck stuff and to pages of other detective series are at
Links to other 70s and 80s detective, police and spy shows.

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Tom Selleck - Biography // Filmography // Pictures // Links
Aloha Magnum : Larry Manetti's Magnum, P.I. Memories
Magnum, p.i. Main Page

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eMail: dpaeschke@bigfoot.de

Last updated: 06/14/03