With 'Blue Bloods,' his popularity endures — along with his determination to live a life apart from the fame factory
Nearly 30 years after his iconic TV role, 'Magnum, P.I.,' Tom Selleck is still one of television's leading men.
Tom Selleck is motoring up a paved road on his ranch in Hidden Valley, California, his ride a dusty Kawasaki ATV with a camouflage paint job and a seat custom-built to accommodate his 6-foot-4 frame. First stop today is a wooden covered bridge that arches over a thin, burbling creek in the gully below. "This is my rehab bridge," says Selleck, 70, who stars in both the CBS hit drama Blue Bloods and the top-rated Jesse Stone series of TV movies. After a hip replacement two years ago, Selleck threw himself into the construction of this crossing, moving beams and bolting trusses as an unconventional form of physical therapy.
Since buying Dean Martin's 65-acre estate back in 1988, Selleck has found that maintaining the hilly, wooded property does wonders for his body, his psyche and his wallet. "I work this ranch every day," he says. "I do the grunt jobs because it saves me money. And it's good for my head." For someone who enjoys his professional success but bristles at the ambiguity of fame, Selleck's home and its attendant concerns ground him: "This ranch is a great counterpoint to the acting business, which is an abstraction. You do something, it's up on a piece of film, and everybody argues whether it is good or bad. You dig a hole and plant an oak tree — and I've probably planted a thousand of them — it's real. It's there, and you can watch it grow. It's a lot different from being famous, and it keeps me sane."
Nearly 30 years after his iconic TV role, 'Magnum, P.I.,' Tom Selleck is still one of television's leading men.
Tom Selleck is motoring up a paved road on his ranch in Hidden Valley, California, his ride a dusty Kawasaki ATV with a camouflage paint job and a seat custom-built to accommodate his 6-foot-4 frame. First stop today is a wooden covered bridge that arches over a thin, burbling creek in the gully below. "This is my rehab bridge," says Selleck, 70, who stars in both the CBS hit drama Blue Bloods and the top-rated Jesse Stone series of TV movies. After a hip replacement two years ago, Selleck threw himself into the construction of this crossing, moving beams and bolting trusses as an unconventional form of physical therapy.
Since buying Dean Martin's 65-acre estate back in 1988, Selleck has found that maintaining the hilly, wooded property does wonders for his body, his psyche and his wallet. "I work this ranch every day," he says. "I do the grunt jobs because it saves me money. And it's good for my head." For someone who enjoys his professional success but bristles at the ambiguity of fame, Selleck's home and its attendant concerns ground him: "This ranch is a great counterpoint to the acting business, which is an abstraction. You do something, it's up on a piece of film, and everybody argues whether it is good or bad. You dig a hole and plant an oak tree — and I've probably planted a thousand of them — it's real. It's there, and you can watch it grow. It's a lot different from being famous, and it keeps me sane."
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