In Step With Mark Harmon
Parade Magazine
Sunday, May 16, 2004
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Actor Mark Harmon was late calling me on a Saturday morning
because, as he said apologetically, "We worked all night,
and I just got in the door." Harmon is on CBS's
Tuesday-night hit _Navy NCIS_, and he told me he works an
average of 18 hours a day.

"It's OK," he said. "I didn't take this job for the days
off. The series is doing well, and we're proud of it. And
with CBS extending it to a full season, we may not even get
a hiatus."

That last part may be a joke. But the series -- created by
Don Bellisario, a former Marine who's also the idea guy
behind the TV show _JAG_ -- is anything but a joke. It deals
with a maverick criminal-investigating unit within the Navy.
Harmon is Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, the chief
investigator -- also a former Marine.  David McCallum
(remember him?) is the unit's medical examiner, "Ducky"
Mallard.

I asked about McCallum, who played Illya Kuryakin on the hit
'60s series _The Man From U.N.C.L.E._ "He's the best," Mark
said. "When we first met on the set, I greeted him as
'Illya,' and he just laughed.  'Man, that was 39 years ago!'
he said. He's a gift of a professional."

Harmon hasn't been around quite as long as McCallum, but
he's got an impressive resume. He's been nominated for four
Golden Globes, he was on _Chicago Hope_, _St. Elsewhere_ and
_Moonlighting_, and in 2002 he received his second Emmy
nomination for his role as Secret Service Agent Simon
Donovan on NBC's _The West Wing_. Harmon also has done stage
work, and this winter he portrayed the President in the film
_Chasing Liberty_.

In 2001, Mark played the "heavy" in a fine TV Western of a
Louis L'Amour story called _Crossfire Trail_, starring Tom
Selleck. "I didn't know you could be that nasty," I told the
affable Harmon.

"It was just fun to do," he said. We need more great
Westerns."


First Text Box
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Personal:
Born Sept. 2, 1951, in Burbank, Calif. Married to Pam Dawber
since 1987. Two sons: Sean, 16, and Ty, 11.

(Television and film credits followed, which I am not
transcribing.)


Second Text Box
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Mark Harmon lives in the mountains high above Santa Monica
with his wife, actress Pam Dawber (_Mork and Mindy_), and
their two sons. Is Pam acting these days? "She gets offered
stuff all the time," Harmon told me, "but she turns it down.
She does a lot of concerts, singing Sondheim songs with a
full orchestra behind her. And she's teaching art." Harmon's
bloodlines are impressive: His mother is the former
Hollywood beauty Elyse Knox, and his father was the
All-American running back Tom Harmon of Michigan. Before
Mark went into showbiz, he too played college football. "My
father was broadcasting UCLA games at the Coliseum," he
recalled, "and I ran copy for him when he was on the air. I
used to look down at the field and fantasize about coming
out onto the grass from the players' tunnel." So when Mark
was 21, he did just that. "I was standing with the team in
that tunnel," he said, "waiting to take the field, with
97,000 people watching." How many Americans have a story
like that?