Tom Selleck Saw 'Cats' A Dozen Times In The 1980s

Tom Selleck was at the height of fame in 1983 thanks to the wild popularity of Magnum, P.I. In the spring of 1983, Selleck found himself in London filming the heist film, Lassiter. He made the most of it, seeing the hit musical Cats more than a dozen times. Why in the world would someone see it that many times? Tom Selleck had a secret motivation beyond the wonderful music and interesting costumes.

Tom Selleck’s co-stars didn’t get it

Selleck’s co-stars, including Jane Seymour, didn’t understand what kind of spell the actor was under that would drive him to see the play night after night. “He kept telling me how great Cats was,” Seymour said. “I thought it was good, but I couldn’t see going back a dozen times.” Cats was a huge hit at the time, and while the recent movie took a beating from critics, the musical set box office records in London and New York for decades. It turns out Selleck wasn’t enchanted by the music as much as he was by one of the cats.

The actor was entranced by a cat

The cat in question was Rumpleteazer, played by Jillie Joan Mack. Tom Selleck was entranced by the singer and dancer. He would ask her out and take her to dinner. Then, as Lassiter was wrapping production, Mack’s run on Cats was coming to end. The 25-year-old actress took off for Hawaii, where Selleck was back shooting Magnum and the rest, as they say, is history. The couple married a few short years later in 1987. In August, they will celebrate their 33rd wedding anniversary.

Selleck and Mack live a pretty normal life

The couple manages to live a quiet life on the avocado ranch they own in California, despite Selleck starring in one of the biggest shows on television, CBS’ Blue Bloods. Tom Selleck is rarely a target of phony stories in the tabloids. When he is, it’s unlikely to be about his personal life. Last year, Gossip Cop busted the Globe for falsely reporting that Courteney Cox was going to play a new love interest for Selleck’s character on Blue Bloods, for example.

Gossip Cop also debunked a story from the National Enquirer that purported that Selleck was leaving Blue Bloods due to poor health. The story wasn’t true, obviously, as he is still very much part of the cast in the show’s tenth season. Selleck’s remarkable run on TV is only eclipsed by his decades-long romances with Jillie Joan Mack. He owes it all to Cats.

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