Melora Hardin has spent decades playing memorable television characters, but one of her earliest roles looks very different to her more than 40 years later.
The future Office star appeared opposite Tom Selleck in a 1983 episode of Magnum, P.I. as Nancy Perkins, a teenage runaway whom Hardin described during a recent Hey Dude… The 90s Called! interview as a “child prostitute.”
Looking at an old photograph from the set, Hardin joked about how much television has changed since she made the episode at 15. She also pointed out the platinum-blonde wig and heavy makeup used to establish Nancy as a streetwalker.
Her memories of working with Selleck himself are considerably sweeter. Hardin admitted she had an enormous crush on the Magnum star and revealed that one onscreen hug went so well that she asked the director if they could film it again.
Hardin Was 15 When She Played Nancy Perkins
The episode, “Luther Gillis: File #521,” aired on Oct. 6, 1983. Hardin played Nancy, a teenage runaway whom Magnum is hired to find. His search eventually crosses paths with private investigator Luther Gillis, played by Eugene Roche, before Magnum discovers that Gillis is actually Nancy’s father.
Looking back more than four decades later, Hardin was amused by how casually the episode presented the circumstances surrounding her character. “It’s super cute. Well, except that I was playing a child prostitute,” she said, according to Entertainment Weekly.
When Hardin held up the old photograph, she noted that she was not wearing the platinum wig used for the episode but still had on the heavy makeup created for Nancy. “That was the whole prostitute part of it, the streetwalker part,” she recalled.
Hardin was already an experienced child actor by then. Before Magnum, P.I., she had appeared on more than a dozen television series, including Diff’rent Strokes, The Love Boat and Little House on the Prairie.
Her Crush on Tom Selleck Led to a Second Take
Hardin’s clearest example of how differently the episode might be handled today involved a scene between Nancy and Magnum. “We have a scene where he like saves, and he hugs me, another thing that they would never do on TV anymore, the detective hugs the 15-year-old streetwalker,” Hardin said, according to Entertainment Weekly.
In the scene, Magnum finds Nancy crying and tells her that her father is worried about her and that she needs to return home. Selleck then pulls her into an embrace. For Hardin, who had a “huge crush” on Selleck at the time, the hug became one of her favorite memories from the job.
She remembered Selleck as a particularly good hugger, describing his large frame and “big barrel chest.” When the director called cut and indicated that they had what they needed, Hardin decided to try her luck.
She asked if they could shoot the hug again. “The whole crew burst into laughter because they knew that’s why I wanted to do it again,” she recalled. “It was so sweet,” according to PEOPLE.
Selleck Kept a Polaroid of Every Guest Star
Hardin said Selleck took Polaroids with guest actors and collected them in a large scrapbook, adding each performer’s name. For a television star working with a constant rotation of guest performers, she remembered the gesture as unusually attentive.
Hardin still has her Polaroid with Selleck from the episode. Years later, she also discovered that the scrapbook may have helped make the encounters memorable for him.
When Hardin ran into Selleck roughly a decade after filming Magnum, P.I., he remembered not only working with her but the specific episode they had made together.