Tom Selleck Says He Had ‘Endless Failures’ Before ‘Magnum, P.I.’ Fame at 35 (Exclusive)

Tom Selleck has a hefty resume that may include even more of your favorite shows.

The actor, 79, is reflecting on his decades-long career in this week’s cover story, as well as some of his earlier roles before his Emmy Award-winning tenure as private investigator Thomas Magnum on the CBS hit Magnum, P.I.

Prior to his time cracking cases in Oahu, Selleck, who had been a student at the University of Southern California, appeared on the soap opera The Young and the Restless from 1974 to 1975, playing Jed Andrews, the love interest of Jaime Lyn Bauer’s Lorie Brooks. Another one of his early roles was a brief stint on The Dating Game.

“I was Bachelor No. 2,” Selleck told PEOPLE of his time on the show in his 1982 cover story. “I didn’t get the girl.”

The actor, now known for his iconic roles across film and TV, including Friends, Three Men and a Baby and In & Out, delves into the ups and downs of his career in his new memoir, You Never Know, out May 7 from Dey Street Books. Selleck notes, however, that his foray into the craft was motivated by his work ethic, not starry-eyed dreams.

“People would say, ‘Oh, he was bitten by the acting bug’ or, ‘He wanted to be a star,’” he says. “I’ve never talked that way in my life. I just wanted to get a job and work.”

Selleck also told PEOPLE that he took a break from acting when his daughter Hannah, who he shares with wife Jillie Mack, was hospitalized for viral pneumonia while he was on Magnum, P.I.

For more of Selleck’s exclusive interview, pick up this week’s issue on PEOPLE on newsstands Friday.

“I had agreed to do the picture because Marlon Brando was in it,” Selleck says. “I missed all the rehearsal and everything. We got Hannah home, and then I went, but I didn’t like that.”

Selleck’s memoir took four years to finish, and isn’t all about the joys of fame. He says the book “is a lot about failing, endless failures,” which is to be expected within the business.

“If you’re going to get in the acting business, you better get an appetite for it,” Selleck says. “And I tried to communicate that… Because it was kind of a long road.”

And while Selleck has learned his lessons about telling other people’s stories (“I learned a long time ago, every time you share a story about someone else, they didn’t necessarily say that’s okay”), he also knew he wanted to share his own, his way.

“That’s just me,” Selleck says.

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