“Tom Selleck’s Journey: From ‘The Dating Game’ and ‘The Young and the Restless’ to Magnum P.I. at 35”

Tom Selleck’s impressive career spans a range of notable roles, many of which might surprise you.

At 79, Selleck is looking back on his extensive career in this week’s cover story, reflecting on his journey before becoming the Emmy Award-winning private investigator Thomas Magnum on CBS’s Magnum, P.I.

Before finding fame in Oahu, Selleck, a University of Southern California alumnus, appeared on the soap opera The Young and the Restless from 1974 to 1975, where he played Jed Andrews, the romantic interest of Jaime Lyn Bauer’s character Lorie Brooks. He also made a brief appearance on The Dating Game.

“I was Bachelor No. 2,” Selleck reminisced about his Dating Game stint in a 1982 cover story. “I didn’t get the girl.” Now celebrated for iconic roles in film and TV, including Friends, Three Men and a Baby, and In & Out, Selleck opens up about the highs and lows of his career in his new memoir, You Never Know, which will be released on May 7 by Dey Street Books. He emphasizes that his drive for acting was fueled more by a strong work ethic than by a desire for fame.

“People often say, ‘Oh, he was bitten by the acting bug’ or, ‘He wanted to be a star,’” he explains. “I’ve never thought of it that way. I just wanted to get a job and work.” Selleck also shared with PEOPLE that he took a break from acting when his daughter, Hannah, whom he shares with wife Jillie Mack, was hospitalized for viral pneumonia while he was working on Magnum, P.I.

“For a film I had agreed to do because Marlon Brando was involved,” Selleck recalls, “I missed all the rehearsals and everything. We got Hannah home, and then I went, but I didn’t like that.”

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