Mark Harmon is one of the most unassuming superstars in Hollywood. His wildly successful show, NCIS, will be celebrating its 400th episode near the start of its 18th season next fall. Harmon has also led a pretty quiet personal life, though the tabloids occasionally target him.
The Tabloids Are Sure He’s Quitting ‘NCIS’
Recently, Harmon was recently targeted by Star in a story debunked by Gossip Cop in May. The phony report alleged Harmon was planning to retire, quit his hit show, and move permanently to Montana. Mark Harmon and his wife, Pam Dawber of Mork & Mindy fame, do spend a lot of their time at their ranch in the Big Sky state, but Harmon’s spokesperson confirmed exclusively to Gossip Cop that the story wasn’t true. He has no immediate plans to quit Hollywood or NCIS.
HOLLYWOOD, CA – OCTOBER 01: Actor Mark Harmon is honored with the 2,482nd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on October 1, 2012 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Mark Davis/Getty Images)
As we pointed out last month, it’s become a yearly tradition with the supermarket tabloids to make this bogus prediction. In May 2019, the very same tabloid purported Dawber wanted him to quit NCIS and a few months prior to that, the Globe claimed he was quitting. Each time we busted the untrue stories. Season 18 is expected to begin in September, or at least, we all hope it does, who knows, truly, given the state of the world.
How Mark Harmon Got His Most Iconic Role
Mark Harmon has been a working actor for decades. His breakout role came in the 80s on the popular medical drama St Elsewhere. You might be surprised to learn that he was so popular during his three seasons on the show, People magazine named him the “Sexiest Man Alive” in 1986. After leaving St. Elsewhere, he starred in a handful of movies that performed only moderately well at the box office, including the cult classic Summer School and a TV movie, The Deliberate Stranger playing serial killer Ted Bundy.
Mark Harmon in a scene from the film ‘Let’s Get Harry’, 1986. (Photo by TriStar/Getty Images)
But it was a four-episode story arc on The West Wing that got the attention of the producers of CBS’ JAG who offered him a part on the Navy procedural as Leroy Jethro Gibson. Soon, the idea for a spinoff gained momentum and the rest is history. NCIS was born, Leroy Jethro Gibson became the main character and Harmon has been playing the role for just about two decades now. Almost twice as long as the show that launched the spinoff.
Harmon May Have Been Destined For Greatness
For such an reserved star, Harmon has actually lived a pretty interesting life. He was an athlete in college, for example. A quarterback. And not a quarterback for some rinkydink Division Three school, but for one of the most storied college football programs in American, the UCLA Bruins. He was even recruited by Oklahoma after two successful years playing in community college. However, the Los Angeles native chose to stay close to home.
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Harmon’s father, Tom Harmon was a football legend in LA. A former Heisman Trophy-winning running back at Michigan, the senior Harmon was the voice of the Bruins football in the 60s and 70s and a stalwart of sports broadcasting in Los Angeles for decades.
Before Landing His Role On NCIS, He Played A More Important Role
On January 3rd, 1996, two young men were speeding down a quiet residential street in LA when the driver lost control and crashed. It just so happen to be in front of Mark Harmon and Pam Dawber’s home. Hearing the crash, Dawber called 911 while Harmon leapt up, saw that one of the men was trapped in the car, grabbed a sledgehammer and went to the rescue.
The driver had escaped the car, and with the car on fire, Harmon only had a few moments to save the trapped passenger. He broke the window with the sledgehammer, feeding the fire, but the actor was able to pull the severely injured teenager out of the burning wreckage. It seems the assuming Harmon has a lot more to him than anyone might think.