Throughout his time on NCIS, Mark Harmon made a memorable impression on fans as he portrayed Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Although his character had some heartbreaking experiences when it came to love and family, he was lucky to have quite a different experience with his wife of 37 years, actress Pam Dawber.
While Pam appeared on her husband's former TV show when playing a "seasoned investigative journalist" named Marcie Warren back in 2021, longtime TV sitcom fans know that the actress was queen of the small screen back in the 1980s. Pam starred alongside Robin Williams in the Happy Days spinoff Mork & Mindy and was later on the sitcom My Sister Sam. Around the same time, Mark was also gaining popularity thanks to roles on the prime time soap opera Flamingo Road and medical drama St. Elsewhere. Mark was also named People's "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1986.
As for how the couple met, Closer Weekly reported the two were introduced by a mutual friend in the mid-80s — and the rest, as they say, is history. Mark later revealed to People in November 2023 how said friend initially wanted to have them meet in a group setting, but that didn't exactly sit well with him. Instead, he chose to cold call Pam and ask her out directly, leading to a lifetime of love.
"I said, 'Can I just call? Can I get a number and just cold call?' And so I did," he told the outlet. "I got the number, and I called, and I got an answering machine. And I started to leave a message that said, 'We don't have to all go out. We could get a cup of coffee or something.' And then she was monitoring and she picked up. We went out that night and we're together ever since."
Exactly one year after their first date, Pam and Mark were married on March 21, 1987 in a school chapel in the Studio City area of San Fernando Valley, California. The newlyweds then jetted off together to Vancouver, British Columbia for their honeymoon, which also happened to be the spot where Mark was filming the CBS TV movie After the Promise at the time.
It didn't take long for the couple to expand their family, and on April 25, 1988, the two welcomed their first son, Sean Thomas. The couple became parents of two a few years later when their second son, Ty Christian, was born on June 25, 1992.
Over the years, they have managed to stay out of the spotlight for the most part, only occasionally appearing together for red carpet events here and there. But as Mark told TV Insider in 2017, he isn't purposefully avoiding talking about his wife and their marriage — they're just inherently private people.
"It's not even a choice," he told the outlet at the time. "It's who we are. 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."
Pam had also said something similar in a People cover story right before she and Mark tied the knot. "We're not trying to keep something secret," she said to the magazine in 1987. "But if you don't want it totally exploited by the press, you have to."
As far as their kids go, Pam told Entertainment Tonight in 2016 that she made a decision to not act full time while raising their two sons. Her last long-term gig was voicing Perdy in the animated 101 Dalmatians: The Series show in 1998.
"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," Pam said. "I 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.'"
Now that their kids are grown, however, Pam has decided to take on the world of TV again — and maybe she'll find herself appearing on Mark's new show (which he executive produces) NCIS: Origins ...
As the entertainment and news associate editor for Good Housekeeping, Adrianna (she/her) writes about everything TV, movies, music and pop culture. She graduated from Yeshiva University with a B.A. in journalism and a minor in business management. She covers shows like The Rookie, 9-1-1 and Grey's Anatomy, though when she’s not watching the latest show on Netflix, she’s taking martial arts or drinking way too much coffee.
