Tom Selleck

Tom 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..

Related Topics:
January 29 - 1945 - American - Actor - Television - Magnum P.I.

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

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After bit parts in film and TV as a contract actor for Universal Studios including "Myra Breckinridge" and a couple of failed pilots Selleck was awarded the role of Magnum that became a huge hit. Ironically Selleck, after years of little interest, was cast as Indiana Jones in the same year. Magnum's producers would not release the actor and he had to pass on the role.

Related Topics:
Universal Studios - Myra Breckinridge - Indiana Jones

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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. However, he never quite developed into a major film star, nor was he able to reestablish himself as the star of a regular TV series.

Related Topics:
Acrophobic - Runaway - Three Men and a Baby - Australia - Western

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Selleck did have a very successful recurring guest star television role on the popular former sitcom "Friends" as "Richard", an ophthalmologist friend of Monica Geller's father and eventually one of Monica's 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.

Related Topics:
Sitcom - Friends - Ophthalmologist - Monica Geller - 1970s - The Rockford Files - James Garner

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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.

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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 Ike: 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.

Related Topics:
Dwight D. Eisenhower - 2004 - 1944 - Invasion of Normandy

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Selleck is an outspoken member of the National Rifle Association, and in a well known incident he was verbally attacked by Rosie O'Donnell on her television show over his support of the NRA (before the show, she had promised not to bring up the subject, but says her temper got the best of her). Selleck is a libertarian and is a registered Independent. He is slated to appear at a fundraiser to benefit National Review, a conservative news magazine.

Related Topics:
National Rifle Association - Rosie O'Donnell - Libertarian - National Review - Conservative

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