Editorial Content for You Never Know: A Memoir
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Reviewer (text)
The title of Tom Selleck’s memoir is ironic as we the audience feel like we know him. And while the moniker points more to luck and happenstance in an unexpected career, the content of the book supports the theory that he is who he is: an incredibly likable, trusting and trustworthy sort of person who also happens to be terribly good-looking.
YOU NEVER KNOW recounts Selleck’s 50 years in the business, a career that he calls unlikely. He was an accidental actor. His hometown was the hometown of the film industry. And while he was a student of business and a basketball player at USC (who spent more time on the bench than on the court), he had no dreams of entering the hometown business.
"Selleck’s story is as candid and accessible as the approachable guy you see on the screen. There’s no pretension --- just Selleck telling it like it is in his recognizable voice."
As luck would have it, Selleck went to a “Dating Game” audition. It was more of a ride-along with friends than a real interest in being on the program, and it turned out to be just the beginning. Soon he was a contract player, taking acting lessons with the likes of Sam Elliott (still a good friend to this day) and Lyle Waggoner, starring in commercials with Farrah Fawcett, and accompanying Mae West to glamorous Hollywood events.
The rest, as they say, is history. His breakout role in “Magnum, P.I.” came at the same time as an offer from Steven Spielberg and George Lucas to play Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark. When it became clear that he couldn’t do both, Magnum won out, and Selleck never regretted his choice.
If you’re hoping for reveals or slinging of dirt, look somewhere else. YOU NEVER KNOW is not a tell-all rife with rumor and innuendo. Yes, big names dot the pages: a friendship with Frank Sinatra that included the latter’s last television appearance on “Magnum, P.I.” and a closeness with Carol Burnett, who also shared the screen with Selleck twice. But names are divulged respectfully and in entertaining ways; there’s no mud or scandal.
YOU NEVER KNOW is focused mostly on the series that made Selleck a household name and heartthrob. Surprisingly, he wasn't even aware how big the show had become, sequestered as he was in Hawaii at a time when info didn’t travel as quickly as it does today. So it was only when he returned to the contiguous states that he realized he was now known to all. He fought, successfully some would say, to keep his private life private.
Selleck’s story is as candid and accessible as the approachable guy you see on the screen. There’s no pretension --- just Selleck telling it like it is in his recognizable voice.
Teaser
In his own voice and uniquely unpretentious style, beloved actor Tom Selleck brings readers on his uncharted but serendipitous journey to the top in Hollywood, his temptations and distractions, his misfires and mistakes, and, over time, his well-earned success. Along the way, he clears up an armload of misconceptions and shares dozens of never-told stories. “Magnum P.I.” fans will be fascinated to learn how Selleck put his career on the line to make Thomas Magnum a more imperfect hero and explains why he walked away from a show that easily could have gone on for years longer. Hollywood is never easy, even for stars who make it look that way. In YOU NEVER KNOW, Selleck explains how he’s struggled to balance his personal and professional lives, frequently adjusting his career to protect his family’s privacy and normalcy.
Promo
In his own voice and uniquely unpretentious style, beloved actor Tom Selleck brings readers on his uncharted but serendipitous journey to the top in Hollywood, his temptations and distractions, his misfires and mistakes, and, over time, his well-earned success. Along the way, he clears up an armload of misconceptions and shares dozens of never-told stories. “Magnum P.I.” fans will be fascinated to learn how Selleck put his career on the line to make Thomas Magnum a more imperfect hero and explains why he walked away from a show that easily could have gone on for years longer. Hollywood is never easy, even for stars who make it look that way. In YOU NEVER KNOW, Selleck explains how he’s struggled to balance his personal and professional lives, frequently adjusting his career to protect his family’s privacy and normalcy.
About the Book
There are many miles from the business school and basketball court at the University of Southern California to 50 million viewers for the final episode of a TV show called "Magnum P.I." Tom Selleck has lived every one of those miles in his own iconoclastic and joyful way.
Frank, funny and open-hearted, YOU NEVER KNOW is an intimate memoir from one of the most beloved actors of our time, the highly personal story of a remarkable life and thoroughly accidental career. In his own voice and uniquely unpretentious style, the famed actor brings readers on his uncharted but serendipitous journey to the top in Hollywood, his temptations and distractions, his misfires and mistakes, and, over time, his well-earned success.
Along the way, he clears up an armload of misconceptions and shares dozens of never-told stories from all corners of his personal and professional life. His rambunctious California childhood. His clueless arrival as a good-looking college jock in Hollywood (from "the Dating Game" to the Fox New Talent Program to co-starring with Mae West and escorting her to black-tie social functions). What it was like to emerge as a mega-star in his mid-30s and remain so for decades to come, an actor whose authenticity and ease in front of the camera connected with audiences worldwide while embodying and also redefining the clichés of onscreen manhood.
In YOU NEVER KNOW, Selleck recounts his personal friendships with a vivid army of A-listers, everyone from Frank Sinatra to Carol Burnett to Sam Elliott, paying special tribute to his mentor James Garner of "The Rockford Files," who believed, like Selleck, that TV protagonists are far more interesting when they have rough edges. He also more than tips his hat to the American western and the scruffy band of actors, directors and other ruffians who helped define that classic genre, where Selleck has repeatedly found a happy home. Magnum fans will be fascinated to learn how Selleck put his career on the line to make Thomas Magnum a more imperfect hero and explains why he walked away from a show that could easily have gone on for years longer.
Hollywood is never easy, even for stars who make it look that way. In YOU NEVER KNOW, Selleck explains how he’s struggled to balance his personal and professional lives, frequently adjusting his career to protect his family’s privacy and normalcy. His journey offers a truly fresh perspective on a changing industry and a changing world. Beneath all the charm and talent and self-deprecating humor, Selleck’s memoir reveals an American icon who has reached remarkable heights by always insisting on being himself.
Audiobook available, read by Tom Selleck
