When Tom Selleck walks into a room, he owns it. Classically handsome and an imposing 6’4″ tall, the actor pauses briefly in the doorway as he enters the room with a bemused smile on his rugged face. His fingers tug playfully at the corners of his famous trademark moustache, while his dazzling wide-set green eyes carefully scan the room in their own private little game of “Size It Up.”
Deftly sliding into his chair, Tom is ready to take on questions, giving each one the thought and courtesy of an honest response and being generous with his replies. If Tom has answered them before, he’s too much of a gentleman to yawn. It is precisely that magnanimous Magnum, P.I. persona that makes Tom Selleck so irresistible. So unassuming you’d think you were talking to an old friend, it’s easy to imagine him as the date you never had to worry about, one your own parents would have sanctioned. But then again, perhaps not. In & Out, his last comedy feature, raised a few eyebrows and even more questions. Maybe Mom and Pop would have been a bit hesitant after all.
The controversy surrounding the lengthy on-screen lip lock between gay tabloid television reporter Peter Malloy (Tom Selleck) and the oblivious-to-his- gayness, small-town teacher Howard Brackett (Kevin Kline), had audiences holding their collective breath before breaking out into hysterical laughter. Still referred to simply as The Kiss in Tinseltown entertainment circles, Tom’s celluloid smooch made movie history, immortalizing the scene on film forever. It also sealed Selleck’s star power once again, placing him back on top of that intangible Hollywood List of Actors To Be Reckoned With. It’s a ladder the talented actor has both climbed and descended.
Born in Detroit, Michigan on January 29, 1945, Tom moved with his family to Sherman Oaks, California when he was still a child. He has two brothers who, like their father, Robert Selleck, are in the real estate business, a sister who is a former model, and his mother, Martha, is a homemaker. Tom has a son from a first marriage to actress/model Jacquelyn Ray, which ended in divorce in 1979. Giving matrimony another try, in 1987, Tom married Jilly Joan Mack, an actress and dancer with whom he has a daughter, Hannah Margaret Mack Selleck, born in 1989.
On his way to becoming a sought-after film star, Tom attended the University of Southern California on a basketball scholarship. Catching the attention of a talent scout after his appearance on the original Dating Game show, his acting and modeling pursuits landed him on Salem cigarette billboards and as a model for Chaz cologne. He subsequently signed a seven-year contract with 20th Century-Fox in 1967 and was noticed by legendary movie actress Mae West who had him hired to play a stud in Myra Breckenridge (1970).
The 1970s found him featured in numerous television series and made-for-television movies. From the far-fetched to the fascinating, his appearances as Jed Andrews on the daytime soap The Young and the Restless, and the melodrama Brackens World, plus eight TV pilots, where he mostly portrayed cops, proved to be the foundation for what was to be his domination of 1980s television. The Emmy Award-winning detective “dramedy”, Magnum, P.I. (1980-1988) was a phenomenal worldwide success, mostly due to the magical match-up of the actor with the character he portrayed. Tom also acted as executive producer on TV’s B.L. Stryker (1989-1990) starring Burt Reynolds and Ozzie Davis.
But, just like his television roles, the hunky actor’s first foray into film would prove less than successful. Although hired to star in George Lucas and Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), CBS would not release him from his Magnum commitments. Harrison Ford took over the well-known role of Indiana Jones, catapulting him to instant fame, the fame Tom would have enjoyed had he been allowed to do the project.
Having already shown himself to be persistent in the face of disappointment, Tom soon landed prize parts in hugely successful feature films, including Three Men and a Baby (1988) a remake of Coline Serreau’s 1985 French comedy, and its 1990 sequel. Many consider Quigley Down Under (1990), in which Tom played an American rifleman battling vermin in Wild Western Australia, to be his best feature work to date.
And, whether it’s on the big or small screen, every time Tom has portrayed a character from the Old West, praise is lavish. TNT’s Last Stand at Saber River and USA Network’s Ruby Jean & Joe (both 1997) are prime examples. Maybe it’s because whenever the burly thespian dons a Stetson and steps into a pair of cowboy boots, he’s the perfect reincarnation of our favorite cowboy heroes—handsome, masculine and ready to take on any obstacle that stands in his way.
PLAYGIRL: Let’s get that kissing question out of the way. What was it like kissing Kevin Kline in the movie In & Out? Did you have anxiety or do anything to get into the mood for it?
No, I took the Anthony Hopkins approach because I don’t think he ate any people before Silence of the Lambs. (Laughs.) Acting is doing and yeah, we had anxiety. The anxiety wasn’t that we were going to kiss each other because the script said that, and we were both being paid. My only anxiety was that if I play this character, is the audience going to buy it? If I had to get in the mood, I had to get in the mood to give them a slap in the face. The script has got to take care of the fact that he’s gay. I’m going to prove that I’m a journalist who is pretty insecure and it’s driving me to do some less than fair things. We rehearsed the scene in front of a whole bunch of people like professional actors do and then we just did it. I kiss my dad on the cheek and I kiss my brothers on the cheek and that’s about it. But I’ve done lots of weird scenes. I’ve jumped into a pile of garbage and it’s not fun. I’m not equating kissing another man with jumping in a pile of garbage, but you just do things as an actor. I’ve worked on tall buildings and I don’t like heights. I’ve done a lot of work as an actor that I’d never do as a person. You get a little braver.
We’ve been told that you are a great kisser.
Who said…? Actually, you know who says I’m a good kisser, which is great…
Kevin Kline?
Dana Delany! I couldn’t care less what Kevin thinks about kissing. (Laughs.) Dana Delany says I’m a good kisser and she said it over and over again which is kind of nice. I’m very flattered.
When did you kiss her?
We did two Magnums and we played lovers. It was a long time ago.
Speaking of relationships, what’s your personal recipe for a successful marriage?
Just pay attention to it. There are a lot of cliches out there about having to work at it. I guess it’s all those things. I don’t know what the secret to success is. You just care about each other enough. You like each other enough. You’re friends enough and you’re in love enough that you make it last, and kids only reinforce that, which is great. Everybody knows how hard it is to stay together, but I don’t think it’s any harder in show business than if you’re going to the office. There’s the temptation for everybody everywhere. It’s just a question of what you do with it. It doesn’t make you inhuman that you notice things. It makes you alive. In our society it’s important that we recommit to the idea of marriage from time to time…
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