A consecrated actor and heartthrob of the stature of Tom Selleck, took advantage of the opportunity and the success that Friends was having, to play the role of the boyfriend (much older) of one of the protagonists. The character of Dr. Richard Burke placed him in a universe that was strange to him since it had been a long time since the last time he did a comedy series for television.
For Friends fans, this character could have been used more. In fact, there are those who would have preferred that Tom Selleck in his role as Burke, had ended up together with Monica (Courteney Cox) and not with Chandler (Matthew Perry) as it happened after 10 seasons.
It could be said that this striking character had his own fandom since the audience accepted Selleck with a good eye, even though he was not part of the main cast. Initially, the writers had proposed only 3 episodes with this great actor and he ended up appearing in 10 of the 235 that the series had. Dr. Burke was not done justice with his sexy mustache.
Additionally, the figure that Selleck represented in Friends had a romantic charge because the character was much older than his partner, in fact, Dr. Burke was a friend and colleague of Monica’s father, Jack Geller (Elliott Gould) and that could present a problem in the family and social circle since Monica would be the “young darling” of the doctor.
The actor garnered his fame since the 1960s, appearing as a guest on countless shows and then had his leading role in the action series: Magnum P.I., at the beginning of the 1980s, thus becoming a popular icon of the time and a reference for sex symbol This made the character within Friends associated with being someone great, an idol; Even Chandler grew a mustache to look like Dr. Burke. However, for an actor of Selleck’s track record, being on the same set with these young performers was intimidating, which he confessed kept him “stressed and scared to death” every time he shot an episode of Friends.
This was due to his little experience in comedy series, because the closest thing had been his participation in the legendary series of 78, Taxi and he was not used to it. In a recent interview he also revealed that Courtney Cox was a great help for his scenes during his appearance in season 2 as his sentimental partner, but that everyone was still very kind to him, so much so that that friendship that was seen on screen, too kept out of it. “It was a wonderful place to work.”
