His moustache is his trademark and he became world famous as Magnum. The acting veteran Tom Selleck often plays the hero like in Blue Bloods or the really nice guy like in Friends. But even in reality Selleck seems to be a nice and kind-hearted person. In the final eighth season, he pushed for the entire crew to receive a big bonus, but the studio didn’t want to pay.
Tom Selleck had to get creative to give his crew the bonus
When Selleck was asked to star in the eighth and final season of Magnum, he had one condition. He wanted the entire crew, both in Hawaii and in Los Angeles, to receive a bonus of $1,000. But the studio rejected his requestas this could set a dangerous precedent:
They always cited precedent when you had an original idea that went beyond what their contract required. To be honest, it pissed me off.
According to Business Insider, he wrote in his memoirs about how he tricked the studio and the broadcaster CBS into realizing the bonus: he became creativeThe studio was not willing to pay a bonus for the crew, but a bonus for the star should be possible.
Tom Selleck simply demanded the bonus for himself
Since the network didn’t want to pay the crew money, Selleck demanded a significant bonus for himself. CBS apparently agreed to this and gave the actor what he wanted.
CBS
Tom Selleck in Magnum
It is unclear whether those responsible had any idea what Selleck was planning, but the broadcaster can rest assured that it has not set a dreaded precedent. Selleck waited until the entire production was completed, then he called the broadcaster:
I called Skip and Bettye and told them to instruct – not ask – Universal to write thousand-dollar checks to every regular member of our Magnum company in both Hawaii and LA. And since it was coming from my bonus money, there was no precedent.
So the crew finally arrived still get their bonus and of course they were happy about this unexpected surprise. Selleck later said that he received several photos of crew members presenting their $1,000 checks with big grins.