Pop Culture | 80s

Tom Selleck Talks About The "Ghost" On The Set Of 'Three Men And A Baby'

Three Men and a Baby was a classic film for many reasons. We saw Tom Selleck as someone other than Thomas Magnum, we saw Steve Guttenberg outside of the Police Academy world, and we caught Ted Danson away from the Cheers set.

The movie won a People's Choice Award for "Best Comedy Motion Picture," and 31 years later it still holds up.

Guttenberg was notably absent in Hollywood after the film came out, taking a step away from fame.

“You gotta remember, I left home at 17. So I missed a great deal of my own growing up,” he told The AV Club. “I missed so many things with my family. I’d become everything I ever wanted to be…But I wanted to just be a little closer to my family…And I decided I’d like to work when I want to work…So I did theater that I really wanted to do and I did some small independent movies that I really wanted to do and I wrote and I painted and I got to see my parents all the time.”

But Guttenberg's disappearance was not the biggest story to emerge after Three Men and a Baby was released. Fans who watched closely spotted what they believe to be a ghost in the background of one of the scenes.

Buena Vista Pictures

Dubbed the "ghost boy," people had a lot of theories surrounding the mysterious figure. Now, 31 years later, Tom Selleck finally explained what happened.

The biggest theory from fans was that a young boy had died in the house the movie was shot in, and he was haunting the set. But according to Tom Selleck, that's not the case. As a matter of fact, he says it's not a ghost at all.

"The story was that this kid died in the house where we shot the movie, this little boy," Selleck told Jimmy Falon. "Well, we shot on a soundstage, they built a set and all. It looks a little spooky, but the story is ridiculous. The ghost of the soundstage?”

Fallon then asked for an explanation, showing Selleck the seemingly obvious picture of a ghost in the back of the shot.

NBC

The mustachioed man told Fallon that Ted Danson's character had cardboard cutouts of himself all around the apartment, and that's just one of them behind the curtains.

NBC

"He played a vain actor...I don't know where they got that concept...who had posters of himself all over the room, and I always thought it was a full-size poster that had been knocked over," Selleck said. "That was my theory."

However, Selleck begins to joke around when he realizes he can make some money off this "ghost."

“I’m going to call Ted and Steve because I think we participated [financially] in the video sales.”

Take a look at the video below, where Selleck reveals some other secrets from the movie!