Brian Blessed stopped star Tom Selleck from meeting the woman who would later become his wife because he thought the actor was fed up of girls going “crazy” for him.
When the legendary British star was starring in Cats as Old Deuteronomy in the 1980s, Selleck went backstage to ask him about one of his co-stars who had caught his attention, Jillie Mack. But instead, the Flash Gordon ace talked Selleck’s ear off about mountain climbing for half an hour before the Magnum PI star could ask him about her.
In the meantime, Mack had been sent home by Blessed, who thought Selleck would be tired of all the attention he was getting from women at the time. Selleck watched the musical a further six times.
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He told the Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast: “I loved [Cats]. But I found that one particular cat on stage I would notice – she looked really good in a leotard, but they all did.
“And a guy named Brian Blessed – good actor – was in a movie, the first movie I did, High Road to China. And he was Old Deuteronomy in Cats, so I went backstage to talk to Brian.
(Image: Daily Mirror)
“And I was single and High Road was very difficult, so I didn’t have any free time, so it wouldn’t have hurt to meet somebody.”
The 79-year-old laughed, and said: “So I go back and Brian starts, and he loved mountain climbing – passionate about it. And he gets into mountain climbing and Everest and all, so he says ‘Look, when you get to the carabiners and the things and the…’ and it’s now like a half an hour.
“And I finally just said to him, in the programme, I said ‘Who is this?’ and said I’d noticed this cat. Real personality – you could see it through all the whiskers and stuff.
“And he says ‘Oh, that’s Jillie Mack. She’s probably crazy about you, as a matter of fact all the girls are, but I know you get a lot of that so I told them all to go away.’”
Selleck eventually made contact with her through the theatre manager, who let him call Mack to ask her out on the backstage number. Selleck and Mack recently celebrated their 37th wedding anniversary, after marrying in 1987.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
