Mark Harmon’s wife Pam Dawber was reluctant about her NCIS role for a very long time

Mark Harmon is a much-loved NCIS alumni and fans of the popular NBC show are often hoping that he will return. During his lengthy reign on the show, it became a family affair for Mark, who was not only joined by his son, Sean Harmon, who played a younger version of his father on the show, but his wife too.

Mark’s wife, actress Pam Dawber, played journalist Marcie Warren for four episodes in a story arc alongside her husband, back in 2021 – which marked the actor’s final ever season in the show.
However, Pam — best known for her role opposite Robin Williams on ’70s and early ’80s sitcom Mork and Mindy — admitted she was initially reluctant to be in NCIS.

In an interview with TV Insider in 2021, the star explained: “I’ve been asked to do NCIS before over the years. It just wasn’t the right character or the right time. With Marcie, it was so funny because when they were casting, Mark goes, ‘Who you’re really looking for is my wife.’ They said, ‘But she’s always turned us down!’ I read the script and I’m going, ‘Oh no.’ My fear rockets flew off.” She added that she had initially been afraid to star in NCIS because she had such a lengthy break from acting. “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,” she explained. Mark and Pam prefer to keep their personal lives out of the spotlight, and since the actor’s departure from NCIS, they have kept an even lower profile.

While there has been new news of Mark returning to acting, despite many rumors, the star has instead been busy preparing for the release of his new book, which is out on November 14.

The book is titled Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor, and tells the story of Japanese-American naval intelligence agent, Douglas Wada, and Takeo Yoshikawa, a Japanese spy sent to Pearl Harbor to gather intelligence on the U.S. fleet. fleet. According to the synopsis, the story follows the “world-changing cat-and-mouse games played between Japanese and U.S. military intelligence agents” in Hawaii before the outbreak of World War Two.
In a statement ahead of the book’s release, Mark said: “I felt compelled to take part in opening up the history and real story of what became NCIS. When I first started this show, there was not much information to be found by research.
“NCIS agents are public servants at the highest level and many have come and gone through this life with no one knowing anything about who they are or what they do,” the actor continued. “And now that story gets told. All because of a TV show.”