Tom Selleck, 79, became an actor by ACCIDENT after '60s Pepsi commercial but ... trends now
Tom Selleck is looking back at his past.
The actor has talked to People about how he became a massive TV star in the 1980s at the age of 35 with the show Magnum PI where he played a handsome detective living in Hawaii.
The 79-year-old Detroit native said he kind of lucked into acting after he became a model.
When he starred in a Pepsi commercial in the late 1960s, he started to feel that he could make a living as an actor, but it was a 'long road' to fame that was littered with many 'failures,' he shared.
The Blue Bloods actor is reminiscing about his career as he is set to release his new memoir You Never Know due out May 7.
Tom Selleck is looking back at his past. The actor has talked to People about how he became a massive TV star in the 1980s at the age of 35 with the show Magnum PI where he played a handsome detective living in Hawaii. Selleck on his hit show Magnum PI which was on from 1980 until 1988
Selleck also had a role as Dr. Richard Burke and Courteney Cox as Monica Geller on Friends
Selleck is planning to relax and travel when the curtain falls on the final episode of his hit police show Blue Bloods. The actor's 13-year run on the CBS series is coming to an end later this year
His career started in his early 20s, but he would not find fame until he was in his mid 30s.
Tom - who is 6ft4in - won a full basketball scholarship to University Of Southern California in Los Angeles.
He was majoring in business administration and didn't even step foot into the drama department.
But then he was chosen to star as a basketball player in a Pepsi commercial. He was noticed during the commercial and then was asked to join the popular TV show The Dating Game.
'It is really the story of an accidental career,' he told the outlet. 'I’d never taken an acting class. I had no training, no desire.'
Then he landed a role on the soap opera The Young and the Restless in 1967.
After that he guest starred on shows like The Rockford Files, The FBI, Marcus Welby MD and Mannix.
But he struggled. Tom told People: 'It is a lot about failing, endless failures.' And he added: 'If you’re going to get in the acting business, you better get an appetite for it. And I tried to communicate that... Because it was kind of a long road.'
At the age of 35, he landed the lead role as Thomas Magnum on the primetime series Magnum PI which became a cultural phenomenon.
The star received five Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, winning in 1985.
The 79-year-old Detroit native said he kind of lucked into acting after he became a model. When he starred in a Pepsi commercial in the late 1960s, he started to feel that he could make a living as an actor, but it was a 'long road' to fame that was littered with many 'failures,' he shared
'People would say, "Oh, he was bitten by the acting bug" or, "He wanted to be a star,"' Selleck said. 'I’ve never talked that way in my life. I just wanted to get a job and work.'
This comes after he said he is still very much in love with his wife of almost 40 years Jillie Mack, 66.
Their romance that has endured since
