|  Hunky
heartthrob Tom Selleck played the role of Magnum, PI in the
long-running CBS series, a gay reporter in the movie In & Out,
and General Dwight D. Eisenhower in a TV biopic. But one role he declines
to play is that of a Hollywood conservative.
"I
prefer libertarian," he told the Chicago Tribune in an
August 10, 2000 interview, after the newspaper noted that Selleck was
usually identified as a conservative.
Selleck further distanced himself from the conservative label in an
article on National Review Online (May 29, 2004). "I'm
a registered independent with a lot of libertarian leanings," he
said. However, he's an independent who supports a surprisingly minimalistic
government: "I think we should have stoplights, fire departments,
and [a] strategic missile defense," he said.
Selleck gave perhaps the most expansive explanation of his political
beliefs in an interview with Cigar Aficionado magazine (December
1995). Here's what he had to say...
• On the common good: "The 20th century
has been a collectivist century. We've had this global experiment,
and we're starting to see the end of the chain letter. I say let's
try new things. It's just time to reassess things and say that maybe
this idea of the common good has to be translated through the individual."
• On the antismoking movement: "Solutions
to problems in a free society are messy. There are no magic bullets,
no bumper-sticker solutions. If we want an authoritarian state, we
can continue to do the kind of stuff we're doing now about smoking."
• On solving society's problems: "We all
agree we need to solve social problems. My leanings tend toward individualist
solutions."
Selleck has contributed his time to organizations that work for "individualist
solutions." He served as honorary chairman of the Skin Cancer Foundation
and is a volunteer for the Los Angeles Mission, which helps homeless
people while rejecting federal financial aid. He was national co-spokesperson
for the Character Counts Coalition, which seeks to educate young people
about the importance of such traits as trustworthiness, responsibility,
caring, and respect.
A longtime supporter of gun rights, Selleck appeared in a TV ad for
the National Rifle Association (NRA) in 1999. That decision ended up
generating headlines after he was verbally attacked by Rosie O'Donnell
on her daytime talk show for being pro-gun. On the show, Selleck defended
his beliefs, and said, "...the Second Amendment, and all of the
Bill of Rights, are extremely important. And somebody needs to stand
up at times [when] some of our politicians are demagogueing issues."
The tall, buff actor (who was once named by People magazine
as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world) got his start in
low-budget movies like Daughters of Satan (1972) and on the
TV soap opera The Young and the Restless (1974-75). In 1980,
he hit the big time when he was cast as the crime-solving, Ferarri-driving
private investigator Thomas Sullivan Magnum on the CBS series, Magnum,
PI. The show ran for 162 episodes, from 1980 to 1988.
Selleck parlayed that TV success into a movie career that included popular
films like High Road to China (1983), Three Men and a Baby
(1988), Three Men and a Little Lady (1990), Mr. Baseball
(1992), and In & Out (1997). Famously, he was also Steven
Spielberg's first choice for Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost
Ark, but couldn't fit it into his Magnum, PI shooting
schedule.
In the late '90s, Selleck's career was rekindled thanks to a supporting
role as Dr. Richard Burke on the hit NBC sitcom, Friends. In
2004, he starred in the critically acclaimed A&E film, Ike:
Countdown to D-Day. The Christian Science Monitor said
Selleck was "terrific in the role" of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
--
Bill Winter
Quotable
"I'm a registered independent with a lot of libertarian leanings."
-- Tom Selleck on National Review Online (May
29, 2004)
"We
all agree we need to solve social problems. My leanings tend toward
individualist solutions." -- Tom Selleck in Cigar
Aficionado magazine (December 1995) |
