Just as Mark Harmon was about to conclude his eighteen-year tenure on “NCIS,” his wife Pam Dawber made her eagerly awaited debut. Entertainment Weekly learned in March 2021 that Dawber, who has been married to Harmon since 1987, would be appearing as a guest star on the police procedural for four episodes. The former cast member of “Mork & Mindy” suddenly became the third person in her direct family to appear on the popular CBS series. Sean, the eldest son of Harmon and Dawber, started filling in as the young Leroy Jethro Gibbs in 2008.
Because Harmon basically is “NCIS” and his son had already been in it, fans always expected Dawber — a seasoned TV actor — to guest star at some point. It took her way longer than anyone could have anticipated. And when she accepted the job, she had one very strong condition. “I talked to the writers and the producers before I signed on and said, ‘If this is a romantic interest, I’m not interested,’” she told Entertainment Weekly the following month.
The crew assured her there was no intention of pairing up Gibbs and Marcie Warren, the investigative journalist who helped the special agent track down a serial killer. Even though she was only featured in a few episodes, Dawber became popular among viewers. “Wish list! I so hope we get to see Marcie (Pam Dawber) in S19 #NCIS,” one X user wrote. But fans almost didn’t meet Marcie as Dawber initially had no interest in joining the show.
Pam Dawber waited for the right time to join NCIS
The showrunners did not give up on having Pam Dawber make a guest appearance on “NCIS” prior to Season 18. She stated in the April 2021 Entertainment Weekly interview, “I didn’t appreciate what they wanted me to do, or I just didn’t want to do it.” At times, opportunities might conflict with personal schedules; for example, she would need to film around the holidays when her parents were scheduled to visit.
Producers eventually gave up trying. It was actually Mark Harmon who suggested they offer up the role of Marcie Warren to Dawber. “With Marcie, it was so funny because when they were casting, Mark goes, ‘Who you’re really looking for is my wife,’” she told TV Insider that same month. But producers were still unhopeful. “They said, ‘But she’s always turned us down!’” This time was different, though. She also thought she was perfect for the role. “The character is so good. I just fell in love with what they wrote,” she told EW.
It’s not that Dawber was sitting around waiting for producers to come up with the perfect character for her. She had been reluctant to accept any roles at all at that point in her life. “I haven’t acted in so long. It’s also, at my age, do you really want to be on a big screen? I finally thought I’d feel worse if I chickened out,” the actor, who was 69 when her season came out, told TV Insider.
Pam Dawber became more selective after having kids
Pam Dawber had a full schedule in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Aside from “Mork & Mindy” and “My Sister Sam,” she acted in over a dozen feature films and TV shows annually. Her career’s slowdown in the late 1980s and subsequent near-complete disappearance by the late 1990s is no coincidence. Dawber’s last consistent acting performance prior to taking the “NCIS” position was as Perdy’s voice in “101 Dalmatians: The Series” from 1997 to 1998. She desired that precisely.
In April 1988, Pam Dawber and Mark Harmon welcomed their son Sean and completed their family in June 1992 with the birth of Ty. Until then, Dawber had kept all doors open, having done TV, film, Broadway, voice acting, musical theater, and beyond. But becoming a mother changed Dawber’s priorities. “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,’” she told ET in 2016.
Dawber’s list of objectives has changed significantly. “I desired to take my children to school by car. She remarked, “I wanted to do the school festivals, bring cupcakes and donuts, and be there for their birthdays, and I did all that.” Sean and Ty did more than just modify their mother’s objectives. In an effort to get closer to them, Mark Harmon also decided to concentrate on TV. “Life’s most significant moments are not worth missing for a job,” he stated to Closer Weekly in 2018.