For 11 seasons, the Irish-American Catholic family of New York City Police Commissioner Frank Reagan has been the focus of the well-known crime drama Blue Bloods, featuring Tom Selleck as the character. Aside from Bridget Moynahan, who plays Erin, Will Estes, who plays Jamie, Len Cariou, who plays Henry, and Donnie Wahlberg, who plays Danny, other actors portraying members of the Reagan family, many of whom also work in law enforcement.
Another lead cast member — although not a Reagan family member — is Marisa Ramirez, who came into the show in the third season. Ramirez plays Detective Maria Baez, Danny’s partner on the job. The bulk of Ramirez’s scenes are, of course, opposite Wahlberg, since their characters are partners. But she occasionally ends up around Selleck on set, who, as it turns out, produced an emotional reaction in Ramirez. In a recent interview, Ramirez spoke about her co-star, Selleck, and revealed the very specific reason she got emotional around him on set.
Ramirez’s grandmother was a big Tom Selleck fan
Blue Bloods viewers are aware that Sunday family dinners play a significant role in the program. Ramirez’s character was finally written into one of these Sunday dinners after being on the program since 2013, which meant she would be recording a crucial sequence with the cast’s most important players, including Selleck, with whom she had only shared a few scenes over the years.
In an interview, Ramirez told PopCulture.com that her grandmother, whom she was very close to, had just passed away two weeks prior. Her grandmother was a huge fan of Blue Bloods and Selleck, so filming this scene with him made Ramirez quite emotional. “I so badly wanted to say something to Tom about the fact that, ‘My grandmother was such a huge fan of yours. But I knew I wouldn’t have been able to get out the words without crying,” Ramirez said. Still, she admitted that her grandmother was on her mind the entire time, adding “It almost made me feel more comfortable and calm, and just was able to really take in the surroundings and the warmth and the fact that they welcomed me there. But again, the fact that she wasn’t going to be seeing that episode, it was touching a rough spot in my heart.”