Tom Selleck Recalls Passing on ‘Indiana Jones’ Role (Exclusive) [Video]

Tom Selleck never set out to become an actor, he tells PEOPLE. But as the star, 79, reflects on his five-decade career in Hollywood, it’s clear the path was the right one for the ruggedly handsome heartthrob.

It all started with Pepsi. Selleck was attending the University of Southern California on a full basketball scholarship while majoring in business administration when he lucked into his first acting gig — portraying a basketball player in a Pepsi commercial. He later got tapped as a bachelor on The Dating Game and appeared on The Young and the Restless before landing his breakout role in Magnum, P.I.

“It is really the story of an accidental career,” he insists. “I’d never taken an acting class. I had no training, no desire.”

In his new memoir, You Never Know(out May 7 from Dey Street Books), he explores that journey and what …