Tom Selleck has been one of the most popular stars in Hollywood for decades. From Magnum P.I. to Blue Bloods, he’s starred in some of the most beloved television series of all time. That’s why it came as a surprise to many earlier this year when Selleck humbly described his Hollywood success as being “accidental.”
When looking at how Selleck got his start, however, it becomes clear what he meant by this!
Selleck’s Surprising Hollywood Origins
What many don’t know about Selleck is that his Hollywood career was kickstarted after he was discovered as a contestant on The Dating Game way back in 1967!
“I was Bachelor No. 2,” Selleck told People Magazine in a 1982 interview. “I didn’t get the girl.”
Tom Selleck didn’t get the girl? There’s a first time for everything.
Check out some clips of Selleck’s The Dating Game stint in the video below.
Selleck further opened up about this earlier this year in an interview with Entertainment Tonight.
“Somebody saw me on The Dating Game and said there’s a talent program at Fox,” Selleck recalled.
“It wasn’t like I was magical on The Dating Game or anything,” he confessed. “Just somebody saw me and a casting director said, ‘You might want to go over to Fox.’ They had an actual talent school.”
“You didn’t get much money, but you got a weekly salary and they had acting classes, voice classes, dance classes,” Selleck recalled. “But the point is, if I hadn’t grown up in L.A., none of this would have happened. So an awful lot was serendipitous.”
‘I Didn’t Know What I Was Doing At First’
The inexperienced Selleck was surprised even to be accepted into Fox’s talent program.
“I did a terrible audition,” he remembered. “I’d never done an audition for a play in my life. I didn’t know what I was doing.”
Lucky for Selleck, his charm and raw abilities allowed him to book commercials throughout the 1970s to pay the bills while he honed his acting skills. Finally, he got his big break with Magnum P.I. in 1980.
The rest, as they say, is history, and Selleck has been an A-list Hollywood star ever since. Knowing all of this, however, it’s easy to see why Selleck considers himself lucky to have had the acting career that he’s enjoyed.
Related: Tom Selleck, 79, Accused Of Looking ‘Unrecognizable’ After ‘Blue Bloods’ Cancellation
‘An Accidental Career’
“It is really the story of an accidental career,” Selleck told People Magazine earlier this year. “I’d never taken an acting class. I had no training, no desire.”
“People would say, ‘Oh, he was bitten by the acting bug’ or, ‘He wanted to be a star,’” he continued. “I’ve never talked that way in my life. I just wanted to get a job and work.”
Selleck is still acting to this day, as he’s been starring in the CBS procedural Blue Bloods for the past fourteen years. Sadly, CBS cancelled Blue Bloods at the end of last year, much to Selleck’s dismay. The final eight episodes are set to begin airing on Friday, October 18.
Related: Tom Selleck, 79, Blasts CBS For Cancelling ‘Blue Bloods’ – ‘I’m Kind Of Frustrated’
Selleck has certainly made the most of the career that he’s had since appearing on The Dating Game way back when! As Blue Bloods comes to an end, we can only hope that Selleck has many more years of Hollywood success in front of him.