United Kingdom, April 18 -- Tom Selleck missed out on playing Indiana Jones when his 'Magnum, P.I.' show took off.

The 79-year-old actor read for the lead role of Dr Henry Walton 'Indiana' Jones in Steven Spielberg's 1981 blockbuster when he was waiting to hear if his detective show pilot was going to be picked up.

He said in his new autobiography 'You Never Know: A Memoir' about the twists and turns of his years in showbiz: "It is really the story of an accidental career.

"I'd never taken an acting class. I had no training, no desire.

"(Acting) is a lot about failing, endless failures. If you're going to get in the acting business, you better get an appetite for it.

"And I tried to communicate that... because it was kind of a long r...