Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott’s 60-Year Friendship Proves Some Bonds Only Get Stronger With Time
These two Hollywood legends have been friends since the 1960s—and their bond keeps growing
There is no shortage of celebrity friendships in Hollywood, but one of our favorites is that of Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott. Not only are the two handsome and hilarious, but they have also known each other for decades and somehow don’t manage to get sick of one another. To learn more about their super sweet bond, keep scrolling!
Get to know Tom Selleck
Selleck is an American actor most people recognize from Three Men and a Baby (1987), Magnum P.I (1980 to 1988), Friends (1996 to 2000), In & Out (1997), Quickly Down Under (1990) and Blue Bloods (2010 to 2024). He was also a member of the California Army National Guard from 1967 to 1973, which he told Military.com he was “proud of.”
“I was a sergeant in the U.S. Army infantry, National Guard, Vietnam era. We’re all brothers and sisters in that sense,” the actor continued. “And then I was going to be drafted, and I got into an infantry National Guard unit and did six months active duty in the middle of my time at Fox. I had my job when I came back, and then they fired me.”
Selleck is married to a woman named Jillie Mack, and has two children—one of whom he shares with ex-wife Jacqueline Ray.
“I have a wonderful wife,” the actor told GQ in 2014. “We know we love each other. We both keep busy with stuff. Both of us get mixed up with whether our anniversary is 8/7/88 or 8/8/88. Jillie doesn’t get offended. Jillie’s obviously of this business, you know—her background. She understands that. It just grows more satisfying. You become true, I think, partners. This is my personal experience.”
Selleck is currently 80 years old, and aside from acting, he tends to live a relatively private life.
Get to know Sam Elliott
Elliott is an actor best known for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Frogs (1972), Lifeguard (1976), Mask (1985), We Were Soldiers (2002), A Star is Born (2018) and 1883 (2021).
Similar to Selleck, Elliott was in the service but never actually got deployed.
“Those guys that signed up because they felt a call to duty … and then they came home and got spit on and all that sh-t, that put me off it,” he told Bang Showbiz in April of 2022. “But I always felt guilty about it, and then I got an opportunity to do a movie called We Were Soldiers. I played a guy who served in four different military conflicts … and then I got an opportunity to go see the [Vietnam Memorial] on the fourth of July … I’ve always felt guilty about the fact that I didn’t go. I got into the National Guard, and I was one of the lucky ones.”
Elliott has been married to his wife Katharine Ross since 1984 and they have one child together. He is now 81 years old and currently starring in Season 2 of Taylor Sheridan’s Landman.
“[The show’s] got humor. It’s got drama. It’s got reality. It’s got Taylor Sheridan all over it. Taylor tells the truth, and he knows a lot of things and he knows about different subjects that will interest people,” Elliott told Woman’s World earlier this year. “It’s just well-written and well-grounded stuff. There’s a gifted bunch of people that have the opportunity to say Taylor’s words and I think it’s a lot of fun for the audience.”
A look at Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott’s friendship
Selleck and Elliott became friends in the 1960s. Their relationship expanded when they went to work on the 1979 Western miniseries The Sacketts and the 1982 film The Shadow Riders.
“[Sam was] a lanky guy with a deep voice [who] knew what he was and what he wanted to do,” Selleck wrote in his 2024 memoir You Never Know.
Following that, the two remained close and, according to an insider, Elliott has been helping Selleck move on after the cancellation of Blue Bloods. “He wants to help Tom out and maybe go to the gym together, anything to get the guy out of the doldrums,” the source told Globe magazine in August of 2025. “Sam could give him tips for a healthier way of life. It’s not just about changing diet and exercise, it’s changing attitude towards life’s adversities.”
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