Known for his leading role in ‘Magnum, P.I.’ and as Monica’s love interest in ‘Friends’, Tom Selleck is a household name whose career has spanned over four decades. He’s had numerous on-screen careers, but was Tom Selleck ever in the military off screen?
Tom Selleck received a draft notice during the Vietnam War and joined the California National Guard. He served from 1967 to 1973 in the 160th Infantry Regiment of the California National Army Guard, before resuming his acting career.
Read on to learn more about Selleck’s military career and his return to the world of acting.
Military Career
Selleck was in the middle of a contract with 20th Century Fox, studying at their talent school and filming TV pilots, when he was issued draft orders for the Vietnam War..
He’d signed at Fox in 1967 but joined the California National Guard later that year and did six months active duty. He told Military.com, “I am a veteran, I’m proud of it. I was a sergeant in the U.S. Army infantry, National Guard, Vietnam era. We’re all brothers and sisters in that sense.”
He remains a strong supporter of U.S. troops and feels a strong sense of solidarity with other people who served, and continued, “We learned a lesson as a country over time, that we need to welcome our troops home regardless of whether you have political problems with whatever mission they’re on, they just served and we need to thank them for it”.
Selleck is thankful in many ways for his opportunity to serve, but has acknowledged in an interview that his military service was a “blessing”, in that it removed him from a peer group who were using drugs heavily.
The veteran said that his peers were experimenting with drugs whilst he was entering the military and that “the military provided a necessity, and the reality was that I was away from drugs.”
Selleck became a spokesperson for the Vietnam Veterans Education Centre in 2009, a project he felt strongly about as a veteran who continues to feel a close connection to others who served in the Vietnam War, and especially to friends whose names are on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
In a statement about his involvement with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Selleck said, “for all those people who are missed every day by their friends and loved ones, I want to do all I can to get the word out about what is being planned for the Education Center”.
Acting Career
After completing his six-months active duty, Selleck returned to Fox to find himself swiftly fired from his job.
Selleck struggled to find his break and spent some time unemployed whilst continuing to pursue his passion for acting. He’s said, on reflection, that “if you want to be an actor, more than most occupations, you better develop an appetite for failure”.
His big break came at the age of 35 when he was cast as Thomas Magnum, the lead role in ‘Magnum, P.I.’ and, interestingly, a Vietnam war veteran. His character was a private investigator living in Hawaii, and the show’s success saw it run for eight seasons, with Selleck winning an Emmy Award in 1984.
Beyond his ‘Magnum, P.I.’ work, Selleck had a recurring role as Dr. Richard Burke in ‘Friends’ and as Frank Reagan in the series ‘Blue Blood’, in which he plays a police commissioner.
The Most Famous Moustache in Hollywood
It would be wrong not to mention Selleck’s iconic facial hair, which has been a constant throughout his prolific career and an aspect of his appearance that he thinks has influenced his casting. He even jokingly told BUILD, “I was born with it”.
He told GQ that, quite simply, when it comes to growing a moustache “you either got it or you don’t”.