Tom Selleck had his fair share of television fame before his big break on “Magnum P.I..” In fact, his first television appearance was a leading role on “The Dating Game.” This was followed by a number of Pepsi commercials as Selleck was working as a model, too.
Before receiving his role as Thomas Magnum though, he starred in 6 rejected television pilots. Eventually, 1980 came along, and the rest was history.
One Hell Of A Coincidence
Tom Selleck knew that he had made prior commitments already with his role as Thomas Magnum, thus he knew the honorable thing to do was to turn down the offer of playing Indiana Jones.
It was probably unfortunate for him to hear then that he could have finished filming his scenes in "Indiana Jones" during "Magnum P.I.’s" six-month filming delay. What an incredibly wasted opportunity!
Magnum The Movie?
Though Tom Selleck has always supported the idea of turning "Magnum P.I." into an actual film, he recently made a comment that he’d “rather people go, ‘Oh, please! Please!’ than ‘I can’t believe you did that.
There have been talks of creating a sequel/reboot of the show, but no recent reports have confirmed its comeback as a movie.
Broadway Debut
Selleck has truly come a long way since his humble beginnings. He eventually went on to the stage, grabbing the opportunity to perform on Broadway. His Broadway debut came in 2001 at New York’s Longacre Theatre, starring in a romantic comedy called "A Thousand Clowns."
Critics praised Selleck for his performance as Murray despite their negative reviews on the production itself.
A Fitting Reference
Archer, the renowned television series created by Adam Reed, actually referenced "Magnum P.I." in a number of their episodes. In fact, in their season 2 episode named “Placebo Effect”, the character Cyril concluded that Archer’s film of personal revenge, or "Terms of Enrampagement," should be called "Magnum P.U." instead.
It was both a comedic moment and a notable homage to the classic eighties show.