Tom Selleck assumes command as Dwight D. Eisenhower in A&E's "Ike: Countdown to D-day," and we caught up with the actor to learn what he had to do to transform himself into the famous old soldier, and the details may shock you.

"I had to get bald!" Tom told us. "I had to shave off my moustache!"

But that wasn’t all: a bigger challenge for Tom was that Ike was a chain smoker. "I didn't smoke and Ike smoked 4 packs of Camels a day," Tom recalled. "I got so dizzy and I had to remember all of these words, but somehow I got by."

And while the movie may bring history to life, Tom said you shouldn’t mistake it for classroom material, "This isn't a lecture, it's not a history lesson, it's a real movie where you care about people and consequently learn something from it."

So does Tom have any aspirations of getting back on television in a weekly TV series? "I don't know!" Tom admitted. "When I worked on friends, I realized what a good gig that was, it was a great show to work on."

So can we expect to see Tom appearing on the "Friends" spin-off "Joey?" "Maybe I can be his dad!" mused Tom. "Matt's a great guy and I wish him success, even though I thought the season finale should have been about Richard. Somehow they didn't."

And with Selleck approaching 60 (if you can believe it), we just had to hear the guy's secret: "I eat too many Fig Newtons, I don't pay much attention to that stuff, but I feel very lucky. And every so often they let me get the girl, so that's good."

Catch Tom as Eisenhower when "Ike: Countdown to D-day" airs Memorial Day at 8:00 pm.