# Aw man, Tom Selleck has become Wilfred Brimley **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 14, 2020, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-man-tom-selleck-has-become-wilfred-brimley/846414 "2020-01-14T17:05:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-man-tom-selleck-has-become-wilfred-brimley/846414/41 "2020-01-16T14:07:03Z")
> [@darren garrison](#): > > also, [this](https://m.imgur.com/gallery/v6he0dl). Mind. Blown. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-man-tom-selleck-has-become-wilfred-brimley/846414/42 "2020-01-16T14:07:06Z")
Ringo Starr turns 80 (!) on July 7th of this year. If that doesn’t make you feel old, nothing will. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-man-tom-selleck-has-become-wilfred-brimley/846414/43 "2020-01-16T14:07:23Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > I am hopelessly devoted to Trek. I remember seeing the very first episode when I was in eighth grade. In my mind, the Trek characters will live forever. > > But the actors who portrayed the original characters in TOS, sadly, will not. I truly grieved when Leonard Nimoy died, and I haven’t been able to watch Star Trek II again since. > > William Shatner is hanging in there. And some fans have butchered and barbecued the man because he doesn’t look like Captain Kirk from 50 years ago. One picture floated around the internet of Shatner in swim trunks at the beach, and there’s no question he’s quite fat. > > So what? > > He’s **88** for GAWD’S sake! Celebrate him, celebrate his long life, celebrate his contribution to bring Gene Roddenberry’s creation to existence! > > Lord knows, I don’t look like I did 50 years ago! When I look in the mirror today, I see my mother’s face. > > And that brings up a completely different thought for a thread, since Momma’s been dead for over 20 years. > ~VOW I’m going to go see the 88-year-old this evening! My wife and I, Trekkers from long ago, are attending a live showing of _Wrath of Khan_, followed by Q&A with the Shat. We’re hoping he’ll be doing the MST3K bit all through the movie! ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-man-tom-selleck-has-become-wilfred-brimley/846414/44 "2020-01-16T18:52:10Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Ringo Starr turns 80 (!) on July 7th of this year. If that doesn’t make you feel old, nothing will. And if watching him perform “You’re Sixteen” doesn’t make you throw up a little in your mouth, nothing will. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-man-tom-selleck-has-become-wilfred-brimley/846414/45 "2020-01-16T20:12:53Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > And if watching him perform “You’re Sixteen” doesn’t make you throw up a little in your mouth, nothing will. He sang it at his concert last August at Ravinia, with a bit of apology or explanation beforehand, and the audience took it in stride as far as I could tell. Of course, being Ravinia, most people didn’t _watch_ him perform it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-man-tom-selleck-has-become-wilfred-brimley/846414/46 "2020-01-16T20:53:51Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Check out some episodes of _The Rockford Files_ where Selleck was barely out of short pants. Actually, he was in his 30’s, but I agree he looked much younger. In fact, it was sort of the point of the episodes that he was impossibly good looking, along with having impossibly good luck. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-man-tom-selleck-has-become-wilfred-brimley/846414/47 "2020-01-16T20:55:59Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > And Joe Namath is pitching the “Medicare Coverage Helpline” (which we are told in the small print, has no affiliation with any government agency.) I guess doing ads for panty hose is out of the question at this late date. I bet he didn’t get those caps on that dental plan. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-man-tom-selleck-has-become-wilfred-brimley/846414/48 "2020-01-16T20:59:35Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I saw Richard Thomas on a TV show a few years ago (IIRC, “Madam Secretary” and didn’t recognize him until I heard his voice! Even the big mole on his cheek has faded. He played an FBI supervisor on _The Americans_, and took me right out of the show. I just couldn’t look at him without thinking “John-boy,” and I never even watched _The Waltons_. Strange how some actors can’t overcome their association with a single role. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-man-tom-selleck-has-become-wilfred-brimley/846414/49 "2020-01-16T21:00:45Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Henry Winkler has also been hawking reverse mortgages. Enough times that some Doper (not I) dubbed them “Fonzie schemes”. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-man-tom-selleck-has-become-wilfred-brimley/846414/50 "2020-01-16T22:42:34Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > And if watching him perform “You’re Sixteen” doesn’t make you throw up a little in your mouth, nothing will. I saw a fairly recent video of what passes for The Beach Boys now with ancient Mike Love (a Nixon supporter) singing of teenage highschool thrills. Pretty pathetic. I pulled that up on uTube because I don’t watch TV and so miss ads by Selleck, Shatner, and everybody else, young or old. Reading about current TV is quite enough, thank you. Get off my lawn! ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-man-tom-selleck-has-become-wilfred-brimley/846414/51 "2020-01-16T22:57:26Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Is that the commercial where he says something to the effect of “a reverse mortgage isn’t just a way to take your home”? > > You know, if you have to say it, it probably isn’t true. Technically, he’s right. A reverse mortgage isn’t just a way to take your home, it’s a way to take your home when you have no capacity to get a new one. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-man-tom-selleck-has-become-wilfred-brimley/846414/52 "2020-01-17T01:27:12Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > I’m going to go see the 88-year-old this evening! My wife and I, Trekkers from long ago, are attending a live showing of _Wrath of Khan_, followed by Q&A with the Shat. We’re hoping he’ll be doing the MST3K bit all through the movie! I’m fairly cross-eyed with JEALOUSY! I’d love to hear Shatner’s MST3K-type remarks on ST III. That movie had so many hilarious moments! Have fun for me, too! ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-man-tom-selleck-has-become-wilfred-brimley/846414/53 "2020-01-17T13:18:54Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > I’m fairly cross-eyed with JEALOUSY! > > I’d love to hear Shatner’s MST3K-type remarks on ST III. That movie had so many hilarious moments! > > Have fun for me, too! Well, he didn’t MST3K the movie, which would have been great. But, he did keep the audience in stitches for an hour afterwards. The interviewer (head of the local nonprofit that maintains the venue\*) would ask a question, and he would start to answer it and then drift off into a story, which would perhaps lead into a second or third story. You’d start to think, “Yeah, he’s losing it”, but his stories inevitably came back to answer the question… eventually. His funniest story involved both DeForrest Kelly’s love of his morning bagel and worries about losing his memory. Kelly put the bagel in the toaster and stood over it waiting for it to pop. Shatner gets Nimoy to distract Kelly, so he can steal the bagel and push the toaster down again. Kelly returns to watching the toaster and is surprised when it pops and there is nothing there. He puts another in, and returns to staring at it waiting to pop. With Nimoy’s help, Shatner pulls the same gag again. When it pops up empty again, Kelly spins around, sees Shatner with his mouth full of bagel (destroying the evidence) and goes batshit. Very well told, funny as hell, especially with Shatner pantomiming the whole episode. Enjoyed the movie as well. Pure '80s cheese, with Montalban in a David Bowie wig and plastic pectorals (although the Wikipedia claims no prothesis was used), Shatner’s big hair rug, the maudlin subplot about Scotty’s nephew, and a very young Kirstie Alley looking really, really good. One thing that struck me was that a big part of the plot was how the cast had aged - and now they look so young. It was 38 years ago, after all. In fact, my wife and I went to see it on an early date back when. Good times. (\* The Flynn Theater in Burlington, Vermont, an Art Deco masterpiece that dates back to the vaudeville days, was restored and turned into an arts venue about 25 years ago.) ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-man-tom-selleck-has-become-wilfred-brimley/846414/54 "2020-01-17T15:37:32Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Ringo Starr turns 80 (!) on July 7th of this year. If that doesn’t make you feel old, nothing will. Grace Slick made 80 _last year_. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-man-tom-selleck-has-become-wilfred-brimley/846414/55 "2020-01-17T23:43:31Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Ringo Starr turns 80 (!) on July 7th of this year. If that doesn’t make you feel old, nothing will. _sigh_ MY Beatle! ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-man-tom-selleck-has-become-wilfred-brimley/846414/56 "2020-01-18T01:09:34Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Ringo Starr turns 80 (!) on July 7th of this year. If that doesn’t make you feel old, nothing will. Today is Betty White’s 98th birthday. 🆒 I know another 98-year-old woman who looks and acts 20 years younger. I only want to live that long if I’m like that myself. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-man-tom-selleck-has-become-wilfred-brimley/846414/57 "2020-01-18T01:18:15Z")
I had to google the Tom Selleck Reverse Mortgage Ad, so here it is. Wow that ad is endless. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/41GTY9ajYVY/maxresdefault.jpg "Tom Selleck Reverse Mortgage Loan Commercial") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41GTY9ajYVY) ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-man-tom-selleck-has-become-wilfred-brimley/846414/58 "2020-01-18T01:23:25Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Enjoyed the movie as well. Pure '80s cheese, with Montalban in a David Bowie wig and plastic pectorals (although the Wikipedia claims no prothesis was used), \ Those \*were \*his actual pectoral muscles. The man was _built_. > [@](#): > > [It has been widely debated that Ricardo Montalban’s chest was actually a prosthetic piece that he wore during the film. In the director’s commentary in the special edition DVD, Nicholas Meyer is quoted as saying that it was, in fact, Montalban’s actual chest and that he was a very muscular man who worked out. During publicity for the movie, during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1982) Montalban explained that he was able to achieve the look seen in the film by doing push-ups. “A lot of push-ups.”](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084726/trivia) ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-man-tom-selleck-has-become-wilfred-brimley/846414/59 "2020-01-18T01:52:22Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > \ > > Those \*were \*his actual pectoral muscles. The man was _built_. Hey, I cited the Wikipedia article that countered the widespread rumor! ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2020, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-man-tom-selleck-has-become-wilfred-brimley/846414/60 "2020-01-27T18:58:07Z")
First time I saw this, I thought, Is that Tom Selleck? Then I thought wow, this is creepy. Especially when he gives a laugh about how some folk think they’ll lose their house. You can just see him thinking, How do I convince these people to get this cause they are paying me a lot for this commercial. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-man-tom-selleck-has-become-wilfred-brimley/846414.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-man-tom-selleck-has-become-wilfred-brimley/846414.md?page=4)