Mark Harmon was the star on NCIS for 18 years. Unfortunately, the well-respected actor left the show last year to many fans’ disappointment. However, there is always a time for goodbyes and new starts.
Harmon can instead enjoy quality time with his family, including his wife, Pam Dawber. She, just as Harmon, has worked as an actor for many years, but at one point, she decided to quit to become a stay-at-home mother.
Even though Mark Harmon is a big celebrity, much isn’t known about his private life. He and Pam decided to keep everything very private for one reason. And hopefully, it has been for the better for the two. So here is all you need to know about their love story.
When Pam Dawber and Mark Harmon met for the first time, they were both well-known actors. They met each other at a party thrown by a mutual friend, and the two started dating.
Mark Harmon & Pam Dawber’s love story
In 1987, the couple tied the knot at a chapel at the Harvard-Westlake School in Studio City, California, in an intimate wedding ceremony. Only a few friends and family members attended.
Harmon’s wedding ring was the shape of an eagle head.
“We think it was my grandfather’s because it was in a box of things that my dad left,” Harmon said.
“I wear it or a few others I have because when I’m not shooting, I like to make sure I have something on my ring finger because I’m proud to be married, and I’m proud of who I’m married to. I’m just so proud of her.”
How did Pam Dawber and Mark Harmon achieve their fame?
Harmon starred in multiple television series such as 240 Robert and Flamingo Road and had a couple of appearances on The Love Boat. However, he got his significant breakthrough role when he became a series regular on the drama St. Elsewhere in 1983 and moved on to star in several films in the latter part of the 1980s.
Pam Dawber started working as a model while studying at Oakland Community College, and later on, she starred in television commercials and magazine advertisements.
Pam Dawber – acting career
After some smaller parts, Dawber got her big breakthrough in 1978, when she starred in the television Mork & Mindy alongside the late Robin Williams. She won the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Female Performer in a New TV Program in 1979.
Before taking the job, Dawber had a meeting with Robin Williams – and she instantly got hooked.
“It was clear. [Robin] was so adorable and so funny,” she told ABC in 2020. “He just had it. And that was it. It was just like, “Where do I sign?'”
Dawber became well-known for her work on screen, but as she and Mark Harmon started dating, her interest in the business began to fade.
In 1988, the couple welcomed firstborn son Sean Harmon. The couple’s first child would pursue a career in acting and follow in his parents’ footsteps.
Sean is best known for starring as the younger version of his father’s character, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, on NCIS and CSI:NY.
“I always think back to the first time they talked about doing a young ‘Gibbs’ thing here, and Sean was just out of school at that point. A director named Tony Wharmby said, ‘Can he come in and read?'” Harmon recalled in 2020.
Mark Harmon & Pam Dawber – family, children
“On his own, he did, and I’m proud of him taking his work seriously and how he approaches being an actor,” he added.
Apart from that, not much is known about Sean’s personal life. He enjoys being anonymous and keeping his privacy separate from his acting and work as a stunt coordinator.
However, last year he shared some private photos on his Instagram when he proposed to his girlfriend in Greenough, Montana.
Mark and Pam have also raised another son, Ty Christian Harmon. Ty was born in 1992, and like the rest of his family, he ended up in the entertainment industry. But unlike other family members, Ty Christian has chosen to stand behind the camera.
He works as a screenwriter but keeps a low profile. He’s perhaps best known for the Catholic Schoolgirl Chainsaw Showdown, which his brother Sean directed.
But no matter what the boys are up to, it is clear that they are supported and admired by their father, Mark.
“I’m proud of both our boys, and they work hard at what they do. And I’m proud that they get up in the morning and try to do that every day,” he said.
Pam Dawber became a stay-at-home mom
After their children were born, Pam wanted to focus on family life instead and gave up fame.
Her last acting job was in 1998, when she voiced the character Perdy on the animated television show 101 Dalmatians: The Series.
“I was in a number one show, I had my own deal, I got to do Broadway, I got to do musical theater. I got to do cartoon voices,” Dawber told Entertainment Online. “Did everything you can do in this business, and then I had children, and it’s like, ‘I’m not going to chase this fame thing.’
“I wanted to drive my kids to school, I wanted to be there for their birthdays and bring cupcakes and donuts and do the school festivals and all that, and I did,” she added. “It was a different life then, and I was very happy to do it.”
As producers recognized Mark Harmon’s outstanding acting qualities, he got more jobs. But at one point, after about nearly two decades years in the business, it all became a bit too much. That’s when Harmon made a decision that changed the course of his life.
“I was directing a lot, I was doing a movie here or there, and we had this young family that was growing up, and I was missing a lot of [family time], he said, adding that it “was not OK.”
Why Mark & Pam kept family life private
Mark was famous, but in the end, he was missing things that he couldn’t experience later in life.
“I was in the jungles of New Guinea making a not-very-good movie when my firstborn child took his first steps. No job is worth missing life’s important moments,” he said.
As their relationship continued to grow stronger, they decided to keep things as private as possible as a protective strategy. Both for themselves as well as for their children.
Dawber is a great friend of Julianne Phillips and Bruce Springsteen, and she listened to Julianne as she explained what they went through with their wedding.
“Julianne was in tears almost the entire time,” Dawber told People. “There were helicopters hovering over her parents’ house. People were camped out on their front lawn. Granted, we’re not talking Springsteen here, but if we choose a big church, everyone will find out about it.”
“All of a sudden, we’ll have Entertainment Tonight out there with microphones.”
In the end, Pam and Mark Harmon, in one way, felt forced into keeping their relationship private.
“We’re not trying to keep something secret, but if you don’t want it totally exploited by the press, you have to,” Dawber told People.
“That’s just not natural”
“It’s not even a choice. It’s who we are,” Mark said years later. “We stay home – a lot. I’m not a Twitter guy or a Facebook guy. Our sons aren’t into that either. Pam and I have both made a living in this business, and still, there’s a part of that, that’s just not natural.”
There was a time that Mark Harmon also decided to take a step back to spend more time with his family.
During that time, he received the script for NCIS, a show about the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Harmon was impressed with the often humorous writing and the character Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
“For a moment, when I started getting interested in doing it, the name changed to Bob Nelson or something, and I just said, ‘Eh…please, can you put the name back,'” he recalled.
NCIS aired for the first time in September 2003. Based on the already successful naval legal drama JAG, the series was an almost immediate success, with millions tuning in for the first episode. After that, NCIS became one of the most-watched shows globally, with millions tuning in each week.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, it’s licensed in more than 200 countries today, with numerous CBS spin-offs such as NCIS: New Orleans, NCIS: Los Angeles, and NCIS: Hawaii.
Mark Harmon on ‘NCIS’
The show has been nominated for three Primetime Emmys and won several other awards throughout its lifetime. Harmon himself was also nominated for several awards for his performances, winning the People’s Choice Award in 2017 for Favorite TV Crime Drama Actor, among others.
Even though NCIS turned into one of the most-watched shows on television, Mark Harmon had a hard time understanding how it was all possible.
“I don’t. You can’t. The international reach is staggering,” Harmon told TV Insider in 2017.
“It’s hard to walk through airports even in the most out-of-the-way places without being surrounded by people who love the show—and that’s nothing to complain about. I’ve done TV shows where I walk through airports apologizing.”
As their children grew older, Dawber slowly went back to working as an actress. She made some rare appearances; however, her not working full-time as an actress was one of the reasons why she believes that their marriage has been so great.
“I don’t think two people can work all the time in show business and stay married,” Dawber told Entertainment Online.
While NCIS was Harmon’s life’s work, Pam also starred on the show. She appeared in seven episodes in 2021 as Marcie Warren, described by the show as “a seasoned investigative journalist.”
Mark & Pam – still deeply in love after 30 years
She made it clear that she didn’t want a role that involved romantic interests but working alongside her beloved husband was a thrill.
“My husband is so supportive of me. He’s just a giving, great guy. He just gives me attagirl’s, you know? It’s fun because Gibbs grunts out a lot of lines. He doesn’t give a lot. So they go toe-to-toe,” she explained.
“He frustrates the hell out of Marcie. So they’ve got this oddball relationship where they’re checking each other out. She doesn’t understand whether is he a truth-teller. Is this guy for real? And he’s thinking sort of the same thing about her.”
While their characters had an “oddball relationship” on-screen, there’s nothing odd about Harmon and Dawber’s relationship in real life.
Mark Harmon and Pam Dawber have been married for over 30 years. And still, to this day, the two are deeply in love.
“I had to kiss a lot of frogs to get there”
According to Harmon, there’s no quick answer or key to why their marriage is going so well. However, the fact that they married at a young age is something he believes was crucial.
“We were both in our 30s when we got married, so hopefully, the stupid stuff we did earlier. That’s probably the closest I have to what the key is,” Mark Harmon told People.
He doesn’t have a particular philosophy regarding his marriage, telling Larry King in a 2014 interview. However, he said he hopes people are smart enough to “choose the right person.”
“I had to kiss a lot of frogs to get there,” Harmon confessed. “My point being – and I’m not throwing dirt on any of that – you learn, you grow, you change.”
Now, the two will have more time together, as Harmon has left NCIS after 18 successful seasons. We wish Pam Dawber and Mark Harmon all the best in the future and hope they will get some great quality time together and with their children.
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