“How Brian Blessed Prevented Tom Selleck from Meeting His Future Wife”

Brian Blessed once unwittingly blocked Tom Selleck from meeting the woman who would become his wife, all because he thought Selleck was fed up with attention from women.

In the 1980s, during Blessed’s run as Old Deuteronomy in Cats, Selleck, who was intrigued by one of the show’s performers, Jillie Mack, went backstage to talk to Blessed. Instead of discussing Mack, Blessed, an avid mountain climber, diverted the conversation to his passion for climbing for half an hour. By the time Selleck was able to ask about Mack, Blessed had already sent her home, believing that Selleck might be tired of all the attention from women.

Selleck, a fan of Cats, had watched the musical several times, hoping to meet Mack. In a recent interview on the Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast, Selleck reminisced about the encounter, saying, “I loved Cats. I noticed one particular performer who looked great in her leotard, and that was Jillie Mack.”

He continued, “I went backstage to speak with Brian Blessed, who was in High Road to China with me. At that time, I was single and could have used a break from the stress of filming, so meeting someone new would have been nice.”

Selleck chuckled as he recalled Blessed’s enthusiastic discussion about mountain climbing, which dominated their conversation. “Finally, I asked him about the performer I had noticed. He told me it was Jillie Mack and mentioned that she might be interested in me, but he had sent her away because he thought I was overwhelmed with female attention.”

Despite the mix-up, Selleck eventually managed to contact Mack through the theatre manager and asked her out. They married in 1987 and recently celebrated their 37th wedding anniversary.