Before becoming one of television’s biggest stars, Tom Selleck experienced a setback that could have gone very differently. Years before “Magnum, P.I.” made him a household name, the actor landed a guest role on “Charlie’s Angels.” But as reported by Woman’s World in a feature about his early television career, his time on the hit series ended after just one episode.
Tom Selleck Jokes He Was “Fired” From “Charlie’s Angels”
Selleck appeared in a 1976 episode of “Charlie’s Angels” as Dr. Alan Samuelson, the boyfriend of Kelly Garrett, played by Jaclyn Smith. The show was experimenting with giving the Angels recurring love interests, but the idea didn’t last.
Speaking on “The Drew Barrymore Show,” Tom Selleck joked that he never got the chance to return.
“They were trying to experiment with boyfriends for the Angels,” he recalled. “I was going to be Jackie Smith’s boyfriend.”
According to the Woman’s World report, he also had some fun pointing the finger at longtime television producer Leonard Goldberg, who later became an executive producer on “Blue Bloods.”
“My boss on ‘Blue Bloods’… had a lot to do on ‘Charlie’s Angels,'” Selleck said. “They fired me after the first episode.”
Years of Struggling Before a Breakthrough
Although the “Charlie’s Angels” role didn’t lead anywhere, Selleck kept working. As noted in a separate Woman’s World feature about his career, he spent years taking guest roles, filming commercials and starring in pilots that were never picked up.
Then came the opportunity that changed everything: Tom Selleck was cast as Thomas Magnum in “Magnum, P.I..”
But even that career-defining role almost didn’t happen.
Tom Selleck Risked Everything Over Magnum
The same Woman’s World report revealed that the original version of Magnum wasn’t the character viewers eventually fell in love with.
Selleck said producers initially wanted a hero who was “very James Bond-like.” He wasn’t convinced that was the right direction.
Instead, he wanted Magnum to be more relatable and inspired by James Garner’s performance as Jim Rockford in “The Rockford Files.”
“I wanted to play a flawed guy,” Tom Selleck explained during an earlier interview with Charlie Rose.
He admitted pushing back was a huge gamble because he had already appeared in “six unsold pilots.” If producers rejected his ideas, he feared he could earn a reputation for being difficult and “never work again.”
The Gamble Paid Off
Fortunately, Tom Selleck’s instincts proved correct. Magnum became one of television’s most memorable detectives, and the series ran for eight seasons while earning him widespread recognition and an Emmy Award.
Looking back, missing out on a recurring role on Charlie’s Angels may have been disappointing at the time. But for Selleck, that early rejection became just another step on the road to the role that defined his career.
Tom Selleck would go on to become one of television’s most familiar faces, later delighting a new generation of fans with his memorable guest role as Dr. Richard Burke on “Friends” and his long-running role on “Blue Bloods.”
Watch Tom Selleck’s extended interview with Ted Danson on the “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” podcast.
