Mark Harmon
Encyclopedia
Mark Harmon is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

 who has been starring in American television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...

s and film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

s since the mid-1970s, after a career as a collegiate football player with the UCLA Bruins
UCLA Bruins Football
The UCLA Bruins football program represents the University of California, Los Angeles in college football as members of the Pacific-12 Conference at the NCAA Division I FBS level. The Bruins have enjoyed several periods of success in their history, having been ranked in the top ten of the AP Poll...

. Since 2003, Harmon has starred as Leroy Jethro Gibbs
Leroy Jethro Gibbs
Leroy Jethro Gibbs is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the CBS TV series NCIS. He is portrayed by Mark Harmon.-Background:...

 in the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 series NCIS
NCIS (TV series)
NCIS, formerly known as NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is an American police procedural drama television series revolving around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which conducts criminal investigations involving the U.S...

.

Early life

Harmon was born Thomas Mark Harmon in Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....

. His father was University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 All-America
All-America
An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...

n and Heisman Trophy
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...

 winner, Tom Harmon
Tom Harmon
Thomas Dudley Harmon was a star player in American college football, a sports broadcaster, and patriarch of a family of American actors...

. His mother is actress and artist, Elyse Knox
Elyse Knox
-Early life:Born Elsie Lillian Kornbrath to Frederick and Elizabeth Kornbrath in Hartford, Connecticut, she studied at the Traphagen School of Fashion in Manhattan then embarked on a career in fashion design...

 (née Elsie Lillian Kornbrath). Harmon has two older sisters, actress and painter Kristin Nelson
Kristin Nelson
Kristin Nelson, also Kristin Nelson Tinker, is an American primitive painter, actor, and author. She was married to Rick Nelson.-Early life:...

, the former wife of singer Ricky Nelson
Ricky Nelson
Eric Hilliard Nelson , better known as Ricky Nelson or Rick Nelson, was an American singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, and actor...

, and actress Kelly Harmon, who was once married to car magnate John DeLorean.

After attending Los Angeles Pierce College
Los Angeles Pierce College
Los Angeles Pierce College, also known as Pierce College, Pierce, is a community college that serves more than 23,000 students in the northern Chalk Hills of Woodland Hills, a community within the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California.The college began with 70 students...

 as a student and quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...

, Harmon transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...

, and following in his father's athletic footsteps was the starting quarterback for the UCLA Bruins football
UCLA Bruins Football
The UCLA Bruins football program represents the University of California, Los Angeles in college football as members of the Pacific-12 Conference at the NCAA Division I FBS level. The Bruins have enjoyed several periods of success in their history, having been ranked in the top ten of the AP Poll...

 team in 1972 and 1973. In UCLA's 1972 season he engineered a stunning upset of the two-time defending national champion, Nebraska Cornhuskers
1972 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team
The 1972 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team represented the University of Nebraska in the 1972 college football season. The team was coached by Bob Devaney and played their home games in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.-Schedule:-Roster:...

. He received the National Football Foundation Award for All-Round Excellence in 1973. In his two years as quarterback in coach Pepper Rodgers
Pepper Rodgers
Franklin C. "Pepper" Rodgers is a former American football player and coach in the United States. He served as the head coach at the University of Kansas , University of California, Los Angeles , and the Georgia Institute of Technology , compiling a career college football record of...

' wishbone offense, UCLA won 17 games and lost only 5. He graduated from UCLA with a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 in Communication cum laude in 1974.

Career

Even though he considered "advertising or law" as careers after college, Harmon became an actor and has spent much of his career portraying law enforcement and medical personnel. Other than athletics/sports appearances, one of his first national TV appearances was with his father Tom Harmon
Tom Harmon
Thomas Dudley Harmon was a star player in American college football, a sports broadcaster, and patriarch of a family of American actors...

, in a commercial for Kellogg's Product 19
Product 19
Product 19 is a breakfast cereal made by Kellogg's. Introduced in 1967, it consists of lightly sweetened flakes made of corn, oats, wheat, and rice. It is packaged and sold in a pink box.-Name:...

 cereal, for which the latter was the longtime TV spokesman. As an actor, his first credit came courtesy of his sister Kristen's in-laws, Ozzie Nelson
Ozzie Nelson
Oswald George "Ozzie" Nelson was an American entertainer and band leader who originated and starred in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet radio and television series with his wife and two sons.-Early life:...

 and Harriet Nelson
Harriet Nelson
Harriet Nelson was an American singer and actress. Nelson is best known for her role on the long-running sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.-Early life and career:...

, in an episode of Ozzie's Girls. This was followed by guest-starring roles on episodes of Adam-12
Adam-12
Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a...

and Emergency!
Emergency!
Emergency! is an American television series that combines the medical drama and action-adventure genres. It was produced by Mark VII Limited and distributed by Universal Studios...

in mid-1975 (the Emergency! episode that Harmon starred in, "905-Wild", centered on two L.A. County Animal Control Officers, and was a pilot episode for a possible new series, which did not sell). Producer/creator Jack Webb
Jack Webb
John Randolph "Jack" Webb , also known by the pseudonym John Randolph, was an American actor, television producer, director and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Sergeant Joe Friday in the radio and television series Dragnet...

, who was the packager of both series, later cast Harmon in Sam
Sam (1978 TV series)
Sam was the name of an American crime drama television series that aired on the CBS network from March 14 to April 18, 1978. It told the story of a Los Angeles police officer, Mike Breen , and his specially-trained police dog, Sam, a Labrador Retriever. Sam assisted Breen in cases such as rescues,...

,
about an LAPD
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...

 officer and his K-9
Police dog
A police dog, often referred to as a "K-9 dog" in some areas , is a dog that is trained specifically to assist police and other law-enforcement personnel in their work...

 partner, in 1978. In 1979, he starred in the action series 240-Robert
240-Robert
240-Robert is an American drama series that ran on ABC from 1979 to 1981. The series title is a reference to the call-sign designation for the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department's search and rescue/paramedic teams.-Synopsis:...

as Deputy Dwayne Thibideaux, which centered around the missions of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Emergency Services Detail.

After several years of supporting guest roles on episodic television shows such as Police Woman
Police Woman (TV series)
Police Woman is an American television police drama starring Angie Dickinson that ran on NBC for four seasons, from September 13, 1974, to March 29, 1978.-Synopsis:...

, Laverne & Shirley
Laverne & Shirley
Laverne & Shirley is an American television situation comedy that ran on ABC from January 26, 1976, to May 10, 1983...

and The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries
The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries
The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries is a television series which aired for three seasons on ABC...

, Harmon landed his first prominent role in the 1980 primetime soap opera Flamingo Road, where he played Morgan Fairchild
Morgan Fairchild
Morgan Fairchild is an American actress. She achieved prominence during the late 1970s and early 1980s with continuing roles in several television series, in which she usually conveyed a glamorous image. Fairchild has also performed in live theater and played guest roles in television comedies...

's husband Fielding Carlisle. The series was short-lived, however, and following its cancellation, he landed the role of Dr. Robert Caldwell on the prestigious NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 Emmy-winning series St. Elsewhere
St. Elsewhere
St. Elsewhere is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982 to May 25, 1988. The series is set at fictional St. Eligius, a decaying urban teaching hospital in Boston's South End neighborhood...

in 1983. In 1986, Harmon left the series as his character contracted HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...

 through unprotected heterosexual intercourse - a storyline that was notable for being one of the first instances where a major recurring character contracted the virus (the character's subsequent off-screen death from AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

 would be mentioned two years later). In the mid '80s, Harmon became the spokesperson for Coors Regular beer
Coors Brewing Company
The Coors Brewing Company is a regional division of the world's fifth-largest brewing company, the Canadian Molson Coors Brewing Company and is the third-largest brewer in the United States...

.

He portrayed serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...

 Ted Bundy
Ted Bundy
Theodore Robert "Ted" Bundy was an American serial killer, rapist, kidnapper, and necrophile who assaulted and murdered numerous young women during the 1970s, and possibly earlier...

 in the 1986 television movie The Deliberate Stranger
The Deliberate Stranger
The Deliberate Stranger is a book and television film about serial killer Ted Bundy.-Book:Bundy: The Deliberate Stranger was written by a Seattle Times reporter named Richard W. Larsen and published in 1980...

. Following this, Harmon had a limited engagement on the series Moonlighting
Moonlighting (TV series)
Moonlighting is an American television series that aired on ABC from March 3, 1985, to May 14, 1989. The network aired a total of 66 episodes...

, playing Cybill Shepherd
Cybill Shepherd
Cybill Lynne Shepherd is an American actress, singer and former model. Her best known roles include starring as Jacy in The Last Picture Show, as Betsy in Taxi Driver, as Madeleine Spencer in Psych, as Maddie Hayes on Moonlighting, as Cybill Sheridan on Cybill, and as Phyllis Kroll on The L...

's love interest Sam Crawford for four episodes in 1987. Harmon's next regular television role would be as Chicago police detective Dickie Cobb for two seasons (1991–1993) on the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 series Reasonable Doubts
Reasonable Doubts
Reasonable Doubts is a police drama broadcast in the United States by NBC that ran from 1991 to 1993.-Synopsis:Reasonable Doubts is primarily about the working relationship between Assistant District Attorney Tess Kaufman , a prosecutor very sensitive to the rights of the accused, and...

. In 1993, he appeared in one episode in the role of a rodeo
Rodeo
Rodeo is a competitive sport which arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later the United States, Canada, South America and Australia. It was based on the skills required of the working vaqueros and later, cowboys, in what today is the western United States,...

 clown on the CBS comedy/western series Harts of the West
Harts of the West
Harts of the West is an American Western/comedy–drama series starring Beau Bridges and his father, Lloyd Bridges, set on a dude ranch in Nevada. The series aired on CBS from September 1993, to June 1994.-Synopsis:...

with future cast mate Sean Murray, who plays McGee on NCIS.

Harmon appeared in Charlie Grace, portraying a private investigator, a series which lasted one season on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

. He returned to ensemble medical shows on the series Chicago Hope
Chicago Hope
Chicago Hope is an American medical drama series created by David E. Kelley that ran from September 18, 1994, to May 5, 2000. It takes place in a fictional private charity hospital.-Premise:The show stars Mandy Patinkin as Dr...

, in which he played Dr. Jack McNeil from 1996-2000. He also portrayed astronaut Wally Schirra
Wally Schirra
Walter Marty Schirra, Jr. was an American test pilot, United States Navy officer, and one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts chosen for the Project Mercury, America's effort to put humans in space. He is the only person to fly in all of America's first three space programs...

 in the miniseries From the Earth to the Moon.

In May 2002, he had a limited four episode run playing Secret Service
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...

 Special Agent Simon Donovan on The West Wing. Harmon took a lead role in two episodes of JAG
JAG (TV series)
JAG is an American adventure/legal drama television show that was produced by Belisarius Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television and, for the first season only, NBC Productions...

in April 2003, which introduced viewers to him in the role of NCIS
Naval Criminal Investigative Service
The United States Naval Criminal Investigative Service is the primary security, counter-intelligence, counter-terrorism, and law enforcement agency of the United States Department of the Navy...

 agent Gibbs. Since 2003, Harmon has starred as NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs
Leroy Jethro Gibbs
Leroy Jethro Gibbs is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the CBS TV series NCIS. He is portrayed by Mark Harmon.-Background:...

 in CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

' drama television show NCIS
NCIS (TV series)
NCIS, formerly known as NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is an American police procedural drama television series revolving around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which conducts criminal investigations involving the U.S...

. During his time on the show, he was reunited with three of his former Chicago Hope co-stars, Rocky Carroll
Rocky Carroll
Roscoe "Rocky" Carroll is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Joey Emerson on the FOX comedy-drama Roc, as Dr. Keith Wilkes on the medical drama Chicago Hope, and as Leon Vance on the CBS drama NCIS and its spinoff NCIS: Los Angeles.-Early life:Carroll was born Roscoe Fulton Carroll...

, Lauren Holly
Lauren Holly
Lauren Michael Holly is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Deputy Sheriff Maxine Stewart in the TV series Picket Fences, as Mary Swanson in the 1994 film Dumb & Dumber, and as Jenny Shepard on the TV series NCIS. She was married to comic actor Jim Carrey from 1996 to...

, and Jayne Brook
Jayne Brook
Jayne Brook is an American actress, known for her role as Dr. Diane Grad on the medical drama Chicago Hope. She appeared on the series from 1995 to 1999.-Early life:...

. Carroll and Holly both played his superior, the NCIS director. (Holly played Director Jenny Shepherd, who was also Gibbs' former romantic partner; Carroll, who is still on the show today, plays Director Leon Vance.)

Harmon has also made several television and theatrical films throughout his career. In the late 1970s, he had supporting roles in Comes a Horseman
Comes a Horseman
Comes a Horseman is a 1978 film starring James Caan, Jane Fonda, Jason Robards, and Richard Farnsworth.The movie, set in the American West of the 1940s, tells the story of two ranchers whose small operation is threatened both by economic hardship and the expansionist dreams of a local land baron...

and Beyond the Poseidon Adventure
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure is a 1979 American disaster film, a sequel to the 1972 film The Poseidon Adventure. It was directed by Irwin Allen and starred Michael Caine and Sally Field...

. His most prominent starring roles were in the 1986 romantic comedy Prince of Bel Air
Prince of Bel Air
Prince of Bel Air is a 1986 romantic comedy television movie which starred Mark Harmon, Kirstie Alley, and Robert Vaughn. It first aired on the ABC network on January 20, 1986.-Plot:...

and 1987 comedy Summer School
Summer School (film)
Summer School is a 1987 film directed by Carl Reiner about the travails of a high school gym teacher who is forced to teach a remedial English class for a bunch of maladjusted goof-off students. It stars Mark Harmon, Kirstie Alley, and Courtney Thorne-Smith. The original music score was composed by...

in both of which he co-starred opposite Kirstie Alley
Kirstie Alley
Kirstie Louise Alley is an American actress known for her role in the TV show Cheers, in which she played Rebecca Howe from 1987–1993, winning an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award as the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1991...

, and the 1988 thriller The Presidio
The Presidio (film)
The Presidio is a 1988 American mystery film directed by Peter Hyams, starring Sean Connery and Mark Harmon. Hyams also photographed. The score was composed by Bruce Broughton.-Plot:...

in which he co-starred with Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...

 and Meg Ryan
Meg Ryan
Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra , professionally known as Meg Ryan, is an American actress and producer. Raised in Bethel, Connecticut, Ryan began her acting career in 1981 in minor roles, before joining the cast of the CBS soap opera As the World Turns in 1982...

. In 2003, he played Ryan in the movie Freaky Friday
Freaky Friday
Freaky Friday is a classic comedic children’s novel written by Mary Rodgers first published in the USA in 1972, and adapted for film several times.-Plot:...

.
Harmon was named People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...

magazine's Sexiest Man Alive in 1986.

Harmon also starred in several stage productions in Los Angeles and Toronto. Los Angeles' The Cast Theatre saw him perform as Bobby in Wrestlers as well as in The Wager. In the late eighties he was part of the cast of the Canadian premier of Key Exchange. Several productions of Love Letters provided him the opportunity to play alongside his wife Pam Dawber
Pam Dawber
Pam Dawber is an American actress best known for her lead television sitcom roles as Mindy McConnell in Mork & Mindy and Samantha Russell in My Sister Sam .-Life and career:...

.

Awards and nominations

Primetime Emmy Awards
  • 1977: Nominated, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie - Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years
  • 2002: Nominated, Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series - The West Wing

Golden Globe Awards
  • 1986: Nominated, Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film - The Deliberate Stranger
  • 1987: Nominated, Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film - After The Promise
  • 1991: Nominated, Best Actor in a Television Series Drama - Reasonable Doubts
  • 1992: Nominated, Best Actor in a Television Series Drama - Reasonable Doubts

Screen Actors Guild Awards
Screen Actors Guild Awards
A Screen Actors Guild Award is an accolade given by the Screen Actors Guild to recognize outstanding performances by its members. The statuette given, a nude male figure holding both a mask of comedy and a mask of tragedy, is called "The Actor"...

  • 1996: Nominated, Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series - Chicago Hope
  • 1997: Nominated, Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series - Chicago Hope

People's Choice Awards
People's Choice Awards
The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show recognizing the people and the work of popular culture. The show has been held annually since 1975 and is voted on by the general public. The People's Choice Awards air on CBS and are produced by Procter & Gamble and Survivor magnate Mark Burnett...

  • 2010: Nominated, Favorite TV Drama Actor - NCIS
  • 2011: Nominated, Favorite TV Crime Fighter - NCIS

Personal life

He worked as a carpenter before making a success of his acting career. On NCIS, his carpentry skills are alluded to through Gibbs' (his character) hobby of building boats in his basement.

Harmon has been married to actress Pam Dawber
Pam Dawber
Pam Dawber is an American actress best known for her lead television sitcom roles as Mindy McConnell in Mork & Mindy and Samantha Russell in My Sister Sam .-Life and career:...

 since March 21, 1987. The couple has two sons: Sean Thomas Harmon (born April 25, 1988), who played a young Gibbs in NCIS Season 6 Episode 4 and Episode 15, Season 7 Episode 16 and Season 9 Episode 8, and Ty Christian Harmon (born June 25, 1992). Harmon was the brother-in-law of Ricky Nelson
Ricky Nelson
Eric Hilliard Nelson , better known as Ricky Nelson or Rick Nelson, was an American singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, and actor...

 and is the uncle of actress Tracy Nelson
Tracy Nelson (actress)
Tracy Kristine Nelson is an American actress.-Early life:Tracy Nelson is a third generation performer; her parents were Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Ricky Nelson and actress/artist Kristin Nelson . She has three younger siblings: Matthew Nelson, Gunnar Nelson of the '90s rock group Nelson,...

 and singers Matthew
Matthew Nelson
Matthew Gray Nelson is an American singer-songwriter, musician and international multi-platinum recording artist. He is the son of actress Kristin Harmon and the late teen idol Ricky Nelson. Along with his twin brother Gunnar, he has been a member of Nelson since 1990. Their single, " Love and...

 and Gunnar Nelson
Gunnar Nelson
Gunnar Eric Nelson is an American musician, singer, and songwriter and international multi-platinum recording artist.-Family:...

 of the pop duo Nelson
Nelson (band)
NELSON is a American hard rock band founded by singer/songwriters Matthew and Gunnar Nelson . NELSON featuring the twin lead front men had a No. 1 hit in the United States with " Love and Affection" during the week of September 29, 1990...

. Harmon dated singer Karen Carpenter
Karen Carpenter
Karen Anne Carpenter was an American singer and drummer. She and her brother, Richard, formed the 1970s duo The Carpenters. She was a drummer of exceptional skill, but she is best remembered for her vocal performances of idealistic romantic ballads of true love...

 in the 1970s. He is one of the first winners of People Magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" award.

In 1987, Harmon tried to gain custody of his nephew Sam based on grounds that his sister Kris was incapable of good parenting. Sam's psychiatrist testified the thirteen-year-old boy depicted his mother as a dragon, and complained about her mood swings and how she prevented him from being with his siblings. Harmon later dropped the custody bid.

In 1996, Harmon saved two teenage boys who were involved in a car accident outside of his home. Harmon used a sledge hammer from his garage to break the window out of their burning car, then pulled them free from the flames.

Filmography

Year Title Role Other notes
1973 Ozzie's Girls
Ozzie's Girls
Ozzie's Girls is an American sitcom spin-off of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, which ran in first-run syndication during the 1973-74 season...

The Candidate
1975 Emergency!
Emergency!
Emergency! is an American television series that combines the medical drama and action-adventure genres. It was produced by Mark VII Limited and distributed by Universal Studios...

Officer Dave Gordon Episode: "905-Wild"
Adam-12
Adam-12
Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a...

Officer Gus Corbin Episode: "Gus Corbin"
Police Woman
Police Woman (TV series)
Police Woman is an American television police drama starring Angie Dickinson that ran on NBC for four seasons, from September 13, 1974, to March 29, 1978.-Synopsis:...

Paul Donin Episode: "No Place to Hide"
1976 Laverne & Shirley
Laverne & Shirley
Laverne & Shirley is an American television situation comedy that ran on ABC from January 26, 1976, to May 10, 1983...

Victor, Jeep Buyer Episode: "Dating Slump"
All's Fair
All's Fair
All's Fair is an American television situation comedy that aired on CBS from 1976 to 1977. The show co-starred Richard Crenna as a conservative political columnist and Bernadette Peters as a liberal photographer...

Episode: "Jealousy"
Police Woman
Police Woman (TV series)
Police Woman is an American television police drama starring Angie Dickinson that ran on NBC for four seasons, from September 13, 1974, to March 29, 1978.-Synopsis:...

Stansky Episode: "Tender Soldier"
Delvecchio Ronnie Striker Episode: "Hot Spell"
1977 Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years
Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years
Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years is a made-for-television movie that was a sequel to the previous year's Eleanor and Franklin. Originally airing on March 13, 1977, it was part of a two-part biopic directed by Daniel Petrie based on Joseph P. Lash's Pulitzer prize-winning biography...

Robert Dunlap TV movie
Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries
The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries
The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries is a television series which aired for three seasons on ABC...

Chip Garvey Episode: "Mystery of the Solid Gold Kicker"
1978 Sam
Sam (1978 TV series)
Sam was the name of an American crime drama television series that aired on the CBS network from March 14 to April 18, 1978. It told the story of a Los Angeles police officer, Mike Breen , and his specially-trained police dog, Sam, a Labrador Retriever. Sam assisted Breen in cases such as rescues,...

Officer Mike Breen 7 episodes
Getting Married
Getting Married
Getting Married is a play by George Bernard Shaw. First performed in 1908, it features a cast of family members who gather together for a marriage. The play analyses and satirises the status of marriage in Shaw's day, with a particular focus on the necessity of liberalising divorce laws.- External...

Howie Lesser TV movie
Little Mo
Little Mo
Little Mo may refer to:*Maureen Connolly, an American tennis player who was nicknamed "Little Mo"*Little Mo Mitchell, a character of the UK television series EastEnders...

Norman Brinker TV movie
Comes a Horseman
Comes a Horseman
Comes a Horseman is a 1978 film starring James Caan, Jane Fonda, Jason Robards, and Richard Farnsworth.The movie, set in the American West of the 1940s, tells the story of two ranchers whose small operation is threatened both by economic hardship and the expansionist dreams of a local land baron...

Billy Joe Meynert
1978–1979 Centennial Captain John McIntosh 3 episodes
1979 Beyond the Poseidon Adventure
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure is a 1979 American disaster film, a sequel to the 1972 film The Poseidon Adventure. It was directed by Irwin Allen and starred Michael Caine and Sally Field...

Larry Simpson
1979–1983 The Love Boat
The Love Boat
The Love Boat is an American television series set on a cruise ship, which aired on the ABC Television Network from September 24,1977, until May 24,1986.The show starred Gavin MacLeod as the ship's captain...

Doug Bradbury 3 episodes
1979–1980 240-Robert
240-Robert
240-Robert is an American drama series that ran on ABC from 1979 to 1981. The series title is a reference to the call-sign designation for the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department's search and rescue/paramedic teams.-Synopsis:...

Deputy Dwayne "Thib" Thibideaux Main character, 13 episodes
1980 Flamingo Road Fielding "Field" Carlyle TV movie
The Dream Merchants
The Dream Merchants
The Dream Merchants is an American novel written by Harold Robbins and published in 1949. Set in the early 20th century, the book is a "rags-to-riches" story of a penniless young man who goes to Hollywood and builds a great film studio. A former Universal Studios employee, author Harold Robbins...

Johnny Edge
1981 Goliath Awaits
Goliath Awaits
Goliath Awaits is a 1981 American television movie originally broadcast in two parts in November 1981 on various stations as a part of Operation Prime Time's syndicated programming...

Peter Cabot TV movie
1981–1982 Flamingo Road Fielding "Field" Carlyle Main character, 37 episodes
1983 Doctor in Paradise Tommy
1983–1986 St. Elsewhere
St. Elsewhere
St. Elsewhere is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982 to May 25, 1988. The series is set at fictional St. Eligius, a decaying urban teaching hospital in Boston's South End neighborhood...

Dr. Robert Caldwell Main character, 70 episodes
1984 Desert Warrior Gacel Sayah
1986 Prince of Bel Air
Prince of Bel Air
Prince of Bel Air is a 1986 romantic comedy television movie which starred Mark Harmon, Kirstie Alley, and Robert Vaughn. It first aired on the ABC network on January 20, 1986.-Plot:...

Robin Prince TV movie
The Deliberate Stranger
The Deliberate Stranger
The Deliberate Stranger is a book and television film about serial killer Ted Bundy.-Book:Bundy: The Deliberate Stranger was written by a Seattle Times reporter named Richard W. Larsen and published in 1980...

Ted Bundy
Ted Bundy
Theodore Robert "Ted" Bundy was an American serial killer, rapist, kidnapper, and necrophile who assaulted and murdered numerous young women during the 1970s, and possibly earlier...

TV movie
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Let's Get Harry
Let's Get Harry
Let's Get Harry is a 1986 action film directed by Stuart Rosenberg. It stars Michael Schoeffling, Thomas F. Wilson, Glenn Frey, Rick Rossovich, Gary Busey, Mark Harmon and Robert Duvall...

Harry Burck, Jr.
1987 Moonlighting
Moonlighting (TV series)
Moonlighting is an American television series that aired on ABC from March 3, 1985, to May 14, 1989. The network aired a total of 66 episodes...

Sam Crawford 4 episodes
Summer School
Summer School (film)
Summer School is a 1987 film directed by Carl Reiner about the travails of a high school gym teacher who is forced to teach a remedial English class for a bunch of maladjusted goof-off students. It stars Mark Harmon, Kirstie Alley, and Courtney Thorne-Smith. The original music score was composed by...

Freddy Shoop
After the Promise Elmer Jackson TV movie
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
1988 The Presidio
The Presidio (film)
The Presidio is a 1988 American mystery film directed by Peter Hyams, starring Sean Connery and Mark Harmon. Hyams also photographed. The score was composed by Bruce Broughton.-Plot:...

Jay Austin
Stealing Home
Stealing Home
Stealing Home is a 1988 movie, starring Mark Harmon, Jodie Foster, Jonathan Silverman, and Harold Ramis. The film is directed by Steven Kampmann and William Porter.-Plot summary:...

Billy Wyatt
1989 Sweet Bird of Youth
Sweet Bird of Youth
Sweet Bird of Youth is a 1959 play by Tennessee Williams which tells the story of a gigolo and drifter, Chance Wayne, who returns to his home town as the accompaniment of a faded movie star, Princess Kosmonopolis , whom he hopes to use to help him break into the movies...

Chance Wayne TV movie
Worth Winning
Worth Winning
Worth Winning is a 1989 film starring Mark Harmon and Madeleine Stowe, directed by Will Mackenzie. It was written by Josann McGibbon and Sara Parriott, based on the novel by Dan Lewandowski.- Plot :...

Taylor Worth
1990 Till There Was You
Till There Was You (1990 film)
Till There Was You is a 1990 Australian film, written by Michael Thomas and directed by John Seale. Cast members included Mark Harmon, Martin Garner, Gregory T. Daniel, and Deborah Kara Unger...

Frank Flynn
Kenny Rogers Classic Weekend Himself
1991 Dillinger John Dillinger
John Dillinger
John Herbert Dillinger, Jr. was an American bank robber in Depression-era United States. He was charged with, but never convicted of, the murder of an East Chicago, Indiana police officer during a shoot-out. This was his only alleged homicide. His gang robbed two dozen banks and four police stations...

TV movie
Fourth Story David Shepard TV movie
Long Road Home Ertie Robertson TV movie
Shadow of a Doubt Uncle Charlie Oakley
Cold Heaven
Cold Heaven (novel)
Cold Heaven is a novel by Northern Irish-Canadian writer Brian Moore, published in 1983.The plot concerns a lapsed Catholic, Marie Davenport, who is about to leave her husband Alex for her lover, Daniel, when Alex is apparently killed in a boating accident and then seems to have risen from the dead...

Alex Davenport
1991–1993 Reasonable Doubts
Reasonable Doubts
Reasonable Doubts is a police drama broadcast in the United States by NBC that ran from 1991 to 1993.-Synopsis:Reasonable Doubts is primarily about the working relationship between Assistant District Attorney Tess Kaufman , a prosecutor very sensitive to the rights of the accused, and...

Detective Dicky Cobb Main character, 45 episodes
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama (1991)
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama (1992)
1993 Harts of the West
Harts of the West
Harts of the West is an American Western/comedy–drama series starring Beau Bridges and his father, Lloyd Bridges, set on a dude ranch in Nevada. The series aired on CBS from September 1993, to June 1994.-Synopsis:...

Rodeo clown Episode: "The Right Stuff"
1994 Natural Born Killers
Natural Born Killers
Natural Born Killers is a 1994 crime/black comedy film directed by Oliver Stone about two victims of traumatic childhoods who became lovers and psychopathic serial killers, and are irresponsibly glorified by the mass media...

Uncredited
1994 Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Earp (film)
Wyatt Earp is a 1994 American semi-biographical Western film, written by Dan Gordon and Lawrence Kasdan and directed by Kasdan. It stars Kevin Costner in the title role as lawman Wyatt Earp, and features an ensemble cast that includes Dennis Quaid, Gene Hackman, Isabella Rossellini, Mark Harmon,...

Sheriff John Behan
1995 Original Sins Johnathan Franye TV movie
Magic in the Water
Magic in the Water
Magic in the Water is a 1995 family film directed by Rick Stevenson and starring Mark Harmon, Sarah Wayne and Joshua Jackson. It is about a fictional lake monster in British Columbia...

Jack Black
The Last Supper Dominant Male
Charlie Grace Charlie Grace Main character, 6 episodes
Acts of Contrition Jonathan Frayne Movie
1996 Strangers
Strangers (TV series)
Strangers was a UK police drama that appeared on ITV between 1978 and 1982.After the success of the TV series The XYY Man, adapted from books by Kenneth Royce, Granada TV devised a new series to feature the regular characters of Detective Sergeant George Bulman and his assistant Detective...

Mark Episode: "Visit"
1996–2000 Chicago Hope
Chicago Hope
Chicago Hope is an American medical drama series created by David E. Kelley that ran from September 18, 1994, to May 5, 2000. It takes place in a fictional private charity hospital.-Premise:The show stars Mandy Patinkin as Dr...

Dr. Jack McNeil Main character, 95 episodes
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (1996)
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (1997)
1997 Adventures from the Book of Virtues
Adventures from the Book of Virtues
Adventures from the Book of Virtues is an animated television series which originally aired on PBS Kids in the United States for three seasons, beginning in 1996 and ending in 2000. There was a two-year gap in between the second and third seasons. In 2008 the series aired twice daily on qubo...

Ulysses Episode: "Perseverance"
Casualties Tommy Nance
The First to Go Jeremy Hampton
1998 From the Earth to the Moon Wally Schirra
Wally Schirra
Walter Marty Schirra, Jr. was an American test pilot, United States Navy officer, and one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts chosen for the Project Mercury, America's effort to put humans in space. He is the only person to fly in all of America's first three space programs...

2 episodes
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (film)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a 1998 American drama film directed by Terry Gilliam, starring Johnny Depp as Raoul Duke and Benicio del Toro as Dr. Gonzo. It was adapted from Hunter S. Thompson's 1971 novel of the same name....

Magazine Reporter at Mint 400
1999 I'll Remember April
I'll Remember April (film)
I'll Remember April is a 1999 film starring Pat Morita, Pam Dawber, Haley Joel Osment and Yuki Tokuhiro, directed by Bob Clark.- Plot :Four children capture a Japanese soldier who washes ashore during the Second World War....

John Cooper
2000 For All Time
For All Time
For All Time is the final book in Caroline B. Cooney's time-travel romance series.- Plot summary :Annie Lockwood attends the new Ancient Egypt exhibit in the museum where she hopes to find some clue of Strat's survival. She is thoroughly disappointed to find that Strat is not in the picture of the...

Charles Lattimer
The Amati Girls
The Amati Girls
The Amati Girls is a 2001 drama film written and directed by Anne De Salvo. It stars Cloris Leachman, Mercedes Ruehl, Dinah Manoff, Sean Young, Lily Knight, Lee Grant, and Edith Fields....

Lawrence
2001 Crossfire Trail
Crossfire Trail (film)
Crossfire Trail is a Turner Network Television film starring Tom Selleck in the role of Rafael "Rafe" Covington, a wanderer known for his honesty and steadfastness who keeps his word to a dying friend despite great adversity to himself. The tagline of the picture is "A hero is measured by the...

Bruce Barkow
And Never Let Her Go Thomas Capano TV movie
The Legend of Tarzan
The Legend of Tarzan
The Legend of Tarzan is an animated television series created by The Walt Disney Company in 2001, based on the Tarzan character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs....

Bob Markham (voice) Episode: "Tarzan and the Outbreak"
2002 Local Boys Jim Wesley
The West Wing Special Agent Simon Donovan 4 episodes
Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Drama Series
2003 JAG
JAG (TV series)
JAG is an American adventure/legal drama television show that was produced by Belisarius Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television and, for the first season only, NBC Productions...

Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs
Leroy Jethro Gibbs
Leroy Jethro Gibbs is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the CBS TV series NCIS. He is portrayed by Mark Harmon.-Background:...

2 episodes (NCIS pilot episodes)
Freaky Friday
Freaky Friday (2003 film)
Freaky Friday is a 2003 film based on the novel of the same name by Mary Rodgers. It stars Lindsay Lohan as Anna Coleman and Jamie Lee Curtis as her mother. In the film their bodies are switched due to an enchanted Chinese fortune cookie...

Ryan
2003–present NCIS
NCIS (TV series)
NCIS, formerly known as NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is an American police procedural drama television series revolving around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which conducts criminal investigations involving the U.S...

Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs
Leroy Jethro Gibbs
Leroy Jethro Gibbs is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the CBS TV series NCIS. He is portrayed by Mark Harmon.-Background:...

Current main character, every episode
Nominated — People's Choice Award – Favorite TV Drama Actor
36th People's Choice Awards
The 36th People's Choice Awards, honoring the best in popular culture for 2009, was held on January 6, 2010 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California, and was broadcasted on CBS. Not all of the awards were presented on air during the show, as many including Favorite Movie were left out...

 (2010)
Nominated — People's Choice Award – Favorite TV Drama Crime Fighter
37th People's Choice Awards
The 37th People's Choice Awards, honoring the best in popular culture for 2010, were held on January 5, 2011 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California, and were broadcast live on CBS at 9:00 pm ET...

 (2011)
2004 Chasing Liberty
Chasing Liberty
Chasing Liberty is a 2004 American romantic comedy film directed by Andy Cadiff, and starring Mandy Moore and Matthew Goode.-Plot:Anna Foster is the daughter of President James Foster and First Lady Michelle Foster . After Secret Service agents ruin a first date, Anna demands some freedom...

President James Foster
2009 Weather Girl
Weather Girl
Weather Girl is a 2009 comedy film. The film stars Tricia O'Kelley, Mark Harmon, Jon Cryer, Enrico Colantoni.-Plot:A Seattle morning show weather girl, after learning her boyfriend has cheated on her, freaks out on-air and is fired...

Dale
2010 Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths
Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths
Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths is a 2010 original direct-to-video animated film released on February 23, 2010. It is based on the abandoned direct-to-video feature, Justice League: Worlds Collide, which was intended as a bridge between the then-concluding Justice League animated television...

Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...

 (voice)
Direct-to-DVD release
2011 John Sandford's Certain Prey Deputy Police Chief Lucas Davenport TV movie

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK