NEW YORK -- Tom Selleck is the sexiest man in America and Bill Cosby is the most admired, beating out President Reagan for the nod, a poll for Ladies Home Journal found.
Selleck, star of the CBS television show 'Magnum, P.I.,' said the distinction he won is a 'blessing.'
'I haven't given myself that title, but as long as someone has, it's very nice and very flattering,' he said.
The magazine said Friday its November issue reports Cosby outpaced President Reagan, Bob Hope, Pope John Paul II, Jacques Coutseau, Lee Iacocca and Billy Graham as the men most admired.
Reagan, however, was chosen as the 'most interesting' man in the nation by respondents polled by the Roper organization, which was commissioned by the Journal to conduct the nationwide poll.
Selleck was selected as the sexiest man in the nation by a more than 2-to-1 ratio among those polled. He won in every demographic subgroup except blacks, who chose actor Billy Dee Williams.
Alvin Poussaint, production consultant on The Cosby Show, said Cosby was selected as the man Americans most admire because 'he's gotten to the core of the human connection that exists between all people, regardless of race, creed, color or ethnicity.'
Cosby told the Journal he hopes, in his show, to eliminate prejudice by pointing out essential values eveyone has in common.
'Our biggest fight is against discrimination,' Cosby said. 'We are all God's children, and we all should accept the beliefs each person holds.'
Reagan tried to downplay the distinction he received in the poll.
'I'm terribly flattered by the results of (the) poll, but I have to admit that a fair amount of name recognition comes with being president,' Reagan said.
