Tom Selleck at 80: How a risky role revived the career of a Hollywood heartthrob
The ‘Magnum, P.I.’ star and Monica’s beloved boyfriend on ‘Friends’ has had a successful film career — just not the kind that playing Indiana Jones would’ve delivered
They say Tom Selleck’s appearances on Friends had to be reshot because the audience sighed every time he walked on set (and Brad Pitt had also been a guest star on Friends). His character, ophthalmologist Richard Burke, was originally meant to appear in just three episodes, but fan demand kept him around for 10 — and turned him into one of the show’s most beloved figures. Richard embodied a kind of old-school masculinity: he smoked cigars, watched war documentaries, and sported a thick mustache that Chandler and Joey tried — and failed — to copy. No one could.
