“Tom Selleck and Ted Danson Revisit ‘Three Men and a Baby’: Ghost Story Still Gives Them Chills”

Tom Selleck and Ted Danson recently revisited a long-standing urban legend tied to their 1987 film, Three Men and a Baby.

The comedy, which also stars Steve Guttenberg, features three bachelors in New York City learning to care for a baby girl named Mary, who was left with a note claiming Danson’s character, Jack, as the father. Over the years, a persistent rumor has suggested that a ghost of a boy haunts the film’s setting. This claim originates from a scene where a figure resembling a boy appears behind sheer curtains during a confrontation between Jack and his mother.

During a recent episode of the Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast, titled “Tom Selleck Kicked Ted Danson’s Ass In Magnum P.I.”, the actors addressed the ghost story. Selleck asked Danson if he often gets questions about the ghost, to which Danson admitted the theory “just got crazy” but conceded that it could be a bit eerie upon closer inspection.

Danson and Selleck humorously discussed the supposed ghost’s origins. Danson mentioned that the figure was actually a life-sized cardboard cutout of himself, and Selleck added that it was part of his character’s vanity, with posters and cutouts scattered throughout the set.

Danson further dispelled the ghost theory by revealing that the scene in question was filmed on a soundstage in Toronto, not in a real New York apartment. “We shot in Toronto,” Danson said, “which is another reason why some kid didn’t die in this building in New York.”

Selleck had previously addressed the myth during a February 2017 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. He clarified that the spooky figure was indeed a cardboard cutout of Danson, which was used in a deleted scene. Selleck joked that the ghost story might have been an invention to boost video sales, adding, “The story is ridiculous.”

Fallon noted that after contacting Disney, which distributed the film, he confirmed the ghostly figure was merely a prop from a deleted scene. “I think it is ghost boy,” Selleck joked, “and actually, I’m going to call Ted and Steve because I think we participate in video sales—it’s a ghost.”