Donnie Wahlberg says Tom Selleck has been great mentor
Donnie Wahlberg says working with Tom Selleck on “Blue Bloods” showed him “there’s always something more to learn.”
As one door closes, Tom Selleck hopes another will open soon.
Selleck, 79, is looking ahead to his Hollywood future as the successful series “Blue Bloods” comes to an end after 14 seasons.
The veteran actor has shown no signs of slowing down, recently revealing he wants to hop back on a horse and make a return to the Western genre.
However, Selleck has voiced his frustration with Hollywood, noting he hasn’t been a fan of his rise to fame since his early “Magnum, P.I.” days and recently felt “taken for granted” over the cancellation of “Blue Bloods.”
Tom Selleck voiced his frustration toward Hollywood as his popular crime drama show “Blue Bloods” was canceled after 14 seasons. (Patrick Harbron/CBS via Getty Images)
While Selleck has graced television screens with his role as Commissioner Frank Reagan in the crime drama since 2010, he floated the idea of turning in his police badge for a cowboy hat.
“A good Western’s always on my list,” Selleck recently shared with Parade. “I miss that. I want to sit on a horse again.”
Selleck, who lives on a 63-acre ranch in Ventura, California, has previously starred in six Westerns.
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Tom Selleck is shown in “Quigley Down Under” in 1990. The actor noted that when it comes to future jobs, “a good Western’s always on my list.” (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Getty Images)
He channeled his inner cowboy in the 1979 TV miniseries “The Sacketts,” starring opposite Sam Elliott, Jeff Osterhage and Glenn Ford. The show was based on two of famed Western fiction writer Louis L’Amour’s books. Later that year, Selleck teamed up with Jerry Reed in the TV movie “Concrete Cowboys.”
In 1982, Selleck reunited with Elliott and Osterhage in “The Shadow Riders.” In 1990, he appeared in one of his best-known cowboy roles, starring as sharpshooter Matthew Quigley in the hit Australian Western “Quigley Down Under.”
“I’m very proud of ‘Quigley Down Under,’ which has passed the test of time and is still very, very popular,” he told the outlet.
“That was a big Western, and he was clearly an iconic hero,” Selleck said. “I don’t mind saying I was a little anxious to play a part that maybe John Wayne could have done better.”
The last time Selleck donned a cowboy hat was in the 2003 television film “Monte Walsh,” and he hopes to potentially collaborate with “Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan in the near future.
Tom Selleck says he’s “very proud of ‘Quigley Down Under,’ which has passed the test of time and is still very, very popular.” (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Getty Images)
Selleck expressed interest in sharing the screen again with his co-star Elliot, who worked with Sheridan in the “Yellowstone” spin-off series “1883.”
“Sam was great in [‘1883’],” he said. “Sam’s always great. We go way, way back. I love him dearly. I’d love to work with Sam.”
While Selleck quipped that offers for new acting roles aren’t “pouring in,” he added that “some people are thinking of me.”
“I don’t know where my next job will take me,” he said. “People ask, ‘What do you want to do next?’ I’m not sure. I don’t want to do Frank Reagan II.”
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Selleck added that he’s open to a “Blue Bloods” spin-off, but he clarified that nobody has spoken to him about one.
He is, however, upset about the hit show being canceled.
“I’m kind of frustrated. During those last eight shows, I haven’t wanted to talk about an ending for ‘Blue Bloods’ but about it still being wildly successful,” he said to TV Insider.
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Tom Selleck stars as Commissioner Frank Reagan in “Blue Bloods.” (Getty Images)
He continued, “My frustration is the show was always taken for granted because it performed from the get-go. So, how do I feel? It’s going to take a long time to sort all of this out.”
The “Magnum, P.I.” actor’s comments came after he confessed he may be forced to give up his California ranch without the income he earned from the show.
Donnie Wahlberg stars alongside Tom Selleck in “Blue Bloods.” (Getty Images)
In May, he told “CBS Mornings,” “You know, hopefully I keep working enough to hold onto the place.”
“The place” is his 63-acre ranch in Ventura County, California. He purchased it in 1988 after he quit “Magnum, P.I.” It used to be an avocado farm before a drought hit, but now, Selleck is focused on rebuilding the place.
“That’s always an issue,” the actor admitted. “If I stopped working, yeah. Am I set for life? Yeah, but maybe not on a 63-acre ranch.”
“My frustration is the show was always taken for granted because it performed from the get-go. So, how do I feel? It’s going to take a long time to sort all of this out.”
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His first credited roles came in the late 1960s, and since then, he has developed a huge name for himself.
Selleck skyrocketed to fame for his 1980s role as the private investigator Thomas Magnum in “Magnum, P.I.,” but he admitted he wasn’t happy with his early stardom.
American actor Tom Selleck starred in the detective drama “Magnum, P.I.” (CBS Photo Archive)
“I didn’t like it,” Selleck said on the “Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson” podcast, “mainly because of family and a sense of privacy.”
“I started getting asked questions in interviews that I didn’t want to say – give an answer to,” he remarked. “I was trying to – I said, ‘You better find a way and find a line about what you’re going to talk about.’ I didn’t always succeed, but it just grew, and I still can’t quite describe it.”
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“But I wasn’t going through it every day,” Selleck added.
“I had a lovely house in Hawaii,” he said. “It was a tiny little house, a one-bedroom house. I rented it. I later bought it. It’s the first house I could ever afford. And I belonged to a place called the Outrigger Canoe Club, and that was local people.”
He continued, “I actually was living Magnum’s life at the beach and stuff.”
Tom Selleck is shown as private investigator Thomas Sullivan Magnum. (CBS Photo Archive)
However, the fame that came with the huge success of “Magnum, P.I.” was difficult to get used to.
“It was really, I don’t know, a lot to adjust to, I think,” he said.
In 1981, Selleck earned his first People’s Choice Award. Selleck also received a Golden Globe and Emmy nomination every year from 1982 to 1986 for his role in “Magnum, P.I.”
Following that famous role, Selleck had various television and film credits, including “Three Men and a Baby,” “Friends,” “Boston Legal” and “Meet the Robinsons.”
Selleck married wife Jillie Mack in 1987. He was previously married to Jaqueline Ray. The two share a daughter named Hannah and a son named Kevin.
