{"id":5926,"date":"2026-09-03T19:17:54","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T19:17:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edmpackz.com\/?p=5926"},"modified":"2026-09-03T19:17:54","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T19:17:54","slug":"7-awesome-facts-about-tv-icon-tom-selleck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edmpackz.com\/?p=5926","title":{"rendered":"7 Awesome Facts About TV Icon Tom Selleck"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"row \">\n<div class=\"container\">\n<aside class=\"content-title\">\n<h1><\/h1>\n<h5>His life is truly inspiring.<\/h5>\n<\/aside>\n<aside class=\"by-line\">\u00a0<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row \">\n<div class=\" score-column2 extranarrow-left\">\n<div class=\"score-left\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"affix-container\" data-v-e0cc2a60=\"\">\n<div class=\"affix-elem affixBottom\" data-v-e0cc2a60=\"\">\n<div class=\"row hidden-xs\" data-v-e0cc2a60-s=\"\">\n<div data-v-e0cc2a60-s=\"\">\n<div id=\"fb-root\" class=\" fb_reset\">\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"beliefnet-share-container\" data-link=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/entertainment\/celebrities\/7-facts-about-tv-icon-tom-selleck?utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=share_bar\"><a class=\"share-icon facebook\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https%3a%2f%2fwww.beliefnet.com%2fentertainment%2fcelebrities%2f7-facts-about-tv-icon-tom-selleck%3futm_medium%3dsocial%26utm_source%3dshare_bar\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/faiths\/articles\/~\/media\/images\/components-v2\/icons\/icon-facebook-white.svg\" alt=\"Facebook\" \/><\/a><a class=\"share-icon twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=7%20Awesome%20Facts%20About%20TV%20Icon%20Tom%20Selleck%20-%20https%3a%2f%2fwww.beliefnet.com%2fentertainment%2fcelebrities%2f7-facts-about-tv-icon-tom-selleck%3futm_medium%3dsocial%26utm_source%3dshare_bar\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/faiths\/articles\/~\/media\/images\/components-v2\/icons\/icon-twitter-white.svg\" alt=\"Twitter\" \/><\/a><a class=\"share-icon email\" href=\"mailto:?subject=I%20wanted%20you%20to%20see%20this%20site&amp;body=Check%20out%20this%20site%20https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/entertainment\/celebrities\/7-facts-about-tv-icon-tom-selleck\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/faiths\/articles\/~\/media\/images\/components-v2\/icons\/icon-email-white.svg\" alt=\"Email\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"score-right\"><main class=\" content\"><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<article class=\"beliefnet-article narrow-layout-column\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<p>Tom Selleck is an acting legend. The former star of\u00a0<em>Magnum, P.I.<\/em>, and the long-running CBS hit\u00a0<em>Blue Bloods\u00a0<\/em>has had a very versatile life and career. Then, there\u2019s that mustache. Arguably, there is no actor more recognized for their \u2018stache than Selleck. There\u2019s a lot to Selleck\u2019s life and career than you may know. What you will learn about Selleck&#8217;s life here will help you develop even more admiration for him. Here are seven awesome facts about television icon, Tom Selleck.<\/p>\n<h2>He credits his success to Jesus Christ.<\/h2>\n<p>Selleck credits all his success in life to Jesus Christ, who he claims as his Lord and Savior. He is a Christian celebrity who has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/entertainment\/celebrities\/6-christian-celebrities-changing-show-business.aspx\">changed the face of show business<\/a>. However, his faith was not always where it is today. He acknowledges that his journey as a Christian has been pretty rocky throughout the years but he has still been able to give credit where credit is due.<\/p>\n<p>He says he always tried to conduct himself in an ethical way and that is what matters most. He attributes his fortune to Jesus Christ. Although it is an individual\u2019s heart that makes plans for a lifetime, it is God who guides him through them, he says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA man\u2019s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps,\u201d Selleck said. \u201cHumble yourselves, therefore, under God\u2019s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>He didn\u2019t always have acting aspirations.<\/h2>\n<p>His career has come a long way. Before he became the cultural influencer he is today, Selleck was a college basketball player with occasional roles in Pepsi commercials and episodes of\u00a0<i>The Dating Game<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>In his younger years, he was working on a degree in business and had plans for a management-training program with United Airlines when he decided to get serious about an acting career, according to\u00a0<em>Parade<\/em>.<\/p>\n<h2>He served in the Army.<\/h2>\n<p>After graduating from college, Twentieth Century Fox offered him an acting contract but God wasn\u2019t calling him to acting then. He decided to listen to God\u2019s call to go into the army.<\/p>\n<p>Selleck learned the values of the U.S. Military from his parents at an early age. Those lessons bestowed by his mother and father shaped him into not only an actor, but also a veteran and a man of integrity.<\/p>\n<p>During the Vietnam War, Selleck was issued draft orders. He joined the California National Guard in the 160th infantry regiment. He served from 1967 to 1973. He later appeared on California National Guard recruiting posters.<\/p>\n<p>The military left a strong impression on Selleck and he looks back on his service with pride: \u201cI am a veteran, I\u2019m proud of it,\u201d Selleck said. \u201cI was a sergeant in the U.S. Army infantry, National Guard, Vietnam era. We\u2019re all brothers and sisters in that sense.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>He was offered the role of Indiana Jones but had to turn it down.<\/h2>\n<p>One of the most interesting facts about Selleck\u2019s career is that he auditioned to play Indiana Jones in 1981\u2019s\u00a0<em>Raiders of the Lost Ark\u00a0<\/em>and was actually selected to play the role. However, he had to turn down the role because CBS wouldn\u2019t let him out of his contract to star in\u00a0<em>Magnum, P.I<\/em>. To add insult to injury, Selleck may have actually been able to do both. When\u00a0<i>Magnum, P.I.<\/i>\u00a0was about to begin filming in Hawaii, a writer\u2019s strike held up production. Selleck had to work as a handyman to pay the rent until the show started filming again.\u00a0<i>Raiders\u00a0of the Lost Ark<\/i>\u00a0started filming around the same time in Hawaii.<\/p>\n<h2>He is an athlete.<\/h2>\n<p>A very interesting fact about Selleck is that he is an accomplished volleyball player. During filming of\u00a0<em>Magnum, P.I.<\/em>, he was known to play volleyball with members of the Outrigger Canoe Club senior team in Honolulu. He was even named honor captain of the U.S. Olympic men\u2019s team in 1984.<\/p>\n<p>If you were a\u00a0<em>Magnum, P.I.<\/em>\u00a0fan, you may have noticed that he often wore a Detroit Tigers baseball cap throughout the series. This was a tribute to his birthplace. Selleck is such a big fan of the team that he joined spring training in 1991 to begin preparing for a role as a baseball pro in\u00a0<i>Mr. Baseball<\/i>. Selleck even had the opportunity to play in one exhibition game against the Cincinnati Reds, striking out in the eighth inning.<\/p>\n<h2>He initially \u2018hated\u2019 the role of Thomas Magnum.<\/h2>\n<p>Most people know Selleck for his role as Thomas Magnum in\u00a0<em>Magnum, P.I<\/em>. but what you may not know is that prior to taking on the role, he was in a string of failed television pilots. In an interview with\u00a0<i>GQ<\/i>, Selleck told the publication that he initially disliked how the role had been written.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hated it,\u201d he said. \u201cHe was James Bond-like. He was perfect. He had girls on each arm. He owned a Ferrari.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the time, he really wanted to play a character that was more similar to Jim Rockford in\u00a0<em>The Rockfod Files<\/em>, a show that he had guest-starred in. Good thing he took the\u00a0<i>Magnum, P.I.<\/i>\u00a0role. The series ended up running for eight seasons.<\/p>\n<h2>He turned down a major role on Baywatch.<\/h2>\n<p>Following Selleck\u2019s\u00a0<em>Magnum, P.I.\u00a0<\/em>run, he ended up pursuing a film career. He played roles in\u00a0<em>Her Alibi<\/em>\u00a0in 1989 and\u00a0<em>Quigley Down Under\u00a0<\/em>in 1990. He was later offered the opportunity to return to television to play the role of Mitch Buchannon on\u00a0<em>Baywatch<\/em>. He turned down the role which was eventually given to David Hasselhoff. While he didn\u2019t take the\u00a0<i>Baywatch<\/i>\u00a0role, he did return to television with a recurring guest spot on\u00a0<i>Friends<\/i>\u00a0and the police drama\u00a0<i>Blue Bloods<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>Selleck\u2019s life is just as fascinating as his long-spanning career. The actor, who turned 75 this year doesn\u2019t appear to be stopping anytime soon and we admire him even more for that. In our eyes, he will always be legendary.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"writer-attribution\"><strong><em>Lesli White<\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth with a Bachelor\u2019s degree in Mass Communications and a concentration in print and online journalism. In college, she took a number of religious studies courses and harnessed her talent for storytelling. White has a rich faith background. Her father, a Lutheran pastor and life coach was a big influence in her faith life, helping her to see the value of sharing the message of Christ with others. She has served in the church from an early age. Some of these roles include assisting ministry, mutual ministry, worship and music ministry and church council. \u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/main><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>His life is truly inspiring. \u00a0 Tom Selleck is an acting legend. The former star of\u00a0Magnum, P.I., and the long-running CBS hit\u00a0Blue Bloods\u00a0has had a very versatile life and career. &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmpackz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmpackz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmpackz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmpackz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmpackz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5926"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/edmpackz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5928,"href":"https:\/\/edmpackz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5926\/revisions\/5928"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmpackz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmpackz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmpackz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmpackz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}