NCIS’ Mark Harmon Reveals 36-Year Marriage Began with a Cold Call

Published: November 7, 2023

NCIS’ Mark Harmon Reveals 36-Year Marriage Began with a Cold Call

By Movieguide® Contributor

NCIS star Mark Harmon revealed that a cold call to MORK & MINDY star Pam Dawber led to the couple’s 36-year marriage.

While a mutual friend wanted to set the two up for a group date, Harmon took a more direct approach.

“I said, ‘Can I just call? Can I get a number and just cold call?’ And so I did,” the actor told PEOPLE. “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.”

The couple married exactly one year after their first date.

However, Harmon’s plans for marriage began before he met Dawber. After being named “Sexiest Man Alive” in 1986, he told PEOPLE that he wanted a marriage that would last forever.

“I’m real monogamous by nature, and I’m fine being alone like I am now,” Harmon said. “When I marry, I want it to be everything this town says it can’t be. I’m not into catting around.”

Now, 36 years after he and Dawber married, he revealed that he has “no secret” to his successful marriage.”We laugh. You got to laugh, and you got to talk and communicate. That’s the fun part. Do we sit and talk about it? No. Maybe you just get fortunate and find the right one. We share many things, and yet we’re really different,” he explained.

Harmon and his wife share two grown sons, Sean, 35, and Ty, 31. Throughout his career, family time was a priority, which led to him playing Special Agent Gibbs on NCIS.

“It was important to be able to make pancakes on Saturday morning,” he said.

“And there were some times where that meant not sleeping,” he revealed. “You just came home and took a shower and came back down. And yet I look back at it and I don’t miss the sleep. I still missed things, I was working, but I’ve been part of [my sons’] lives.”

“I’ve been able to spend more time with them,” Harmon added. “In many ways, we’ve had a great opportunity to kind of grow as a family.”

“I’m so fortunate,” he said. “I don’t ever wake up not thinking that.”

Movieguide® previously reported on Harmon:

Mark Harmon is well known for his TV fame on NCIS, but the actor had the chance to achieve movie fame. He recently shared how he put his family before his career.

While his children were young, Harmon headed to New Guinea to work on a movie. When he returned, his son was walking on his own — a milestone he missed due to his work schedule.

The actor told his wife, “Hate to tell you, but I’m not gonna be doing new movies in New Guinea for the rest of my life to be able to afford the house we’re in, and miss all this.”

Harmon turned his back on movie projects and focused on TV shows, where he could come home at the end of each day.