You Never Know: A Memoir

Selleck was a basketball-playing college senior at University of Southern California when, on a lark, he went on The Dating Game. That appearance led to his meeting 20th Century Fox president Richard Zanuck and being invited into the Fox New Talent Program. His first job there was posing with a naked Barbara Parkins for Valley of the Dolls promo art. The actor’s memoir primarily concentrates on a play-by-play of his career. He notes that he’d never had an interest in acting before, but he scored a part as Stud #4 in Myra Breckenridge opposite Mae West and escorted her to the premiere. He describes a rocky road before he landed the lead in Magnum, P.I.; he toiled for years doing commercials and small parts on TV and in B movies and making TV pilots that never sold. Some readers may be surprised to learn that he nearly played Indiana Jones. He patently refuses to share personal details, but there are plenty of Hollywood anecdotes.