Tom Selleck doesn’t like to be the center of a lot of fuss, but he agreed to allow his wife, Jillie Mack, to throw him a small 80th birthday party with just family — against his better judgement. “I stopped celebrating birthdays a while back,” Tom admits. “I’m trying not to count.”
As he passed this new milestone on Wednesday, January 29, Tom looked straight ahead — eager to meet his next challenge in his long career. “I would love to do another comedy,” he says. “[And] a good western’s always on my list. I miss that. I want to sit on a horse again.” Tom would be delighted to do a Blue Bloods spinoff or television movie. He’s also angling for a return as detective Jesse Stone, a character he last played in a TV movie a decade ago. “It would be an interesting challenge because Jesse is older now,” Tom says. “There’ve been quite a few years.”
The California-reared actor became a household name at age 35 playing private detective Thomas Magnum on Magnum, P.I., but he walked away from the show after eight years to start a family. He and dancer Jillie wed in 1987 and purchased their Ventura, California farm in 1988, the same year they welcomed their daughter, Hannah Selleck. Their property, which used to belong to Dean Martin, is Tom’s personal sanctuary. “I’ve probably planted a thousand trees myself,” says the actor, who admits living far from the bright lights of Hollywood keeps him sane. “It took me a long time to get off the train, but I try very hard to have balance, and this ranch has helped me do that,” says Tom, who appreciates watching the wildflowers he planted in cycles bloom as the seasons change.
Tom Selleck’s a Family Man
In the late 1980s, Tom turned down the lead in Baywatch, preferring to stay home to enjoy his family. He also worried that Mitch Buchannon, the character that would be played by David Hasselhoff, would turn him into more of a sex symbol — a label Tom tried to avoid despite his classic good looks. “Do I think I’m sexy? No, that’s someone else’s judgment,” he says. “I honestly don’t think you can try to be sexy and really succeed.”
For a time, Tom made two or three films a year. “I’m very proud of Quigley Down Under, which has passed the test of time and is still very, very popular,” he says of the 1990 Australia-set western. “I was a little anxious to play a part that maybe John Wayne could have done better.”
The late 1990s brought more film roles, a short-lived TV series called The Closer and a memorable 10 episodes as Dr. Richard Burke, Monica’s older lover on Friends. “[The show] made people laugh and cry at times,” he notes. “That’s the kind of comedy I enjoy doing.”
By the time Tom entered his 60s, he began getting even more involved with the roles he played. The Jesse Stone TV movies, which began in 2005 with Jesse Stone: Stone Cold, are based on novels by Robert B. Parker but Tom received a screenwriting credit on some of the later films. “It looks like now I might have to write [a script for another movie],” he says. “It wouldn’t be a final one because everybody loves it.”
Tom also had a big hand in developing his character on Blue Bloods, a show which he also executive produced. “I continued to learn about Frank Reagan and watch him evolve as a character for 15 years,” he says. “I was never bored.” Although Tom remains perplexed by CBS’ decision to end the popular show’s run last December, he’s satisfied by what he and the close-knit cast accomplished. “I’m proud to say nobody in this cast ever phoned a performance in,” he says.
Tom Selleck’s Next Chapter After ‘Blue Bloods’
Over the many years he starred on Blue Bloods, Tom confronted the realities of getting older. “He jokes that he wouldn’t mind aging if it didn’t come with all the aches and pains,” says the pal. Tom tried to share his own experience with aging in Frank, who evolved over the show’s 14 seasons. “You change physically, you change every other way,” Tom says. “You’re just older. At a certain point, all those things entered into what I’ll put in my little actor’s handbook and use, because I certainly don’t intend to stop working.”
Last summer, Tom sported scars on his knees consistent with replacement surgery. “He’s had some mobility issues, as everyone knows, but he’s working really hard to tackle that,” says the friend, who confides that the actor is doing physical therapy, lifting weights, swimming and doing tai chi to get in shape. “Tom likes to walk around his ranch, which is why getting his knees back in shape was so important to him,” adds the friend. “Working the ranch and walking his land are his preferred exercise.”
As much as Tom enjoys spending time at home, he’s not ready to quit acting yet. “I love the work,” he says. “Sometimes the hours are a little harder because I’m older, but so what? I want to work as long as they’ll have me.”
