Who Is Mark Harmon’s Wife? All About Pam Dawber

Mark Harmon and Pam Dawber have a Hollywood marriage with true staying power.

The NCIS star and the Mork & Mindy actress were introduced by a mutual friend in 1986, shortly after Harmon was crowned PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive.

During his interview, Harmon told PEOPLE that he wasn’t looking for a relationship at the time and was holding out for a marriage that would last. “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.”

Harmon and Dawber’s marriage has definitely defied the Hollywood odds as they are still going strong today — more than 35 years later.

“I’m proud to be married, and I’m proud of who I’m married to,” he told PEOPLE in 2019. “I’m just so proud of her.”

So, who is the St. Elsewhere star’s wife of over three decades? Read on to learn more about Pam Dawber and her long-lasting relationship with Mark Harmon.

She’s an actress

Dawber shot to fame as the human romantic interest of Robin Williams‘ alien character on Mork & Mindy. The sitcom ran for 95 episodes from 1978 to 1982.

After the show ended, Dawber appeared in several made-for-TV movies before landing another TV show, My Sister Sam, in which she starred from 1986 to 1988. It was during this time that she met her future husband at a friend’s party in 1986.

She and Harmon keep their relationship private

From the beginning, Dawber and Harmon were vocal about not wanting to publicly discuss their relationship. “We’re not trying to keep something secret, but if you don’t want it totally exploited by the press, you have to,” Dawber told PEOPLE in 1987.

Harmon reiterated this in 2017 when he told TV Insider, “It’s not even a choice. 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.”

She and Harmon share two sons

Shortly after they tied the knot in 1987, the couple started their family. Harmon and Dawber’s older son, Sean, was born in 1988, while their younger son, Ty, was born in 1992.

Both Sean and Ty have followed in their famous parents’ footsteps, pursuing careers in the entertainment industry. Sean is an actor who has appeared as the son of Harmon’s character on NCIS, while Ty works in Hollywood as a screenwriter.

She has famous in-laws

Harmon’s late sister Kristin was previously married to singer Ricky Nelson (son of Ozzie and Harriet Nelson from the hit ’50s sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet) and appeared on the family’s television show many times.

The actor’s parents were also well known. His father was Heisman trophy-winning football player and broadcasting icon Tom Harmon and his mother was actress Elyse Knox.

She and Harmon took in their nephew during a tough family time

Both Kristin and Ricky struggled with substance abuse, and they eventually divorced. In 1985, Ricky died in a plane crash and Kristin entered rehab at Harmon’s urging. When she returned from the treatment facility, Harmon and Dawber took Kristin to court to seek custody of her youngest son Sam, who was 12 years old at the time. The couple were granted temporary custody.

However, after a bitter trial, the family decided to settle the matter privately. “We don’t want to go any further with this,” Harmon told Kristin’s lawyer at the time. “Too much blood has been spilled.”

She and Harmon celebrate their differences

Harmon and Dawber have very different personalities, as he explained to PEOPLE in 2019. However, their differences only strengthen their relationship.

The actor used his role in the 1987 movie Summer School as an example. “I wanted to do it just because I was excited to work with [director] Carl Reiner,” he said. “That was a game changer for me, like, ‘He thinks I can do this?!’ and that meant a lot. But Pam said, ‘Don’t do that. Don’t do this movie.’ We don’t generally like the same thing, and that’s been healthy for us, actually.”

When asked what other secrets the couple have for a long-lasting marriage, the actor said, “We were both in our thirties when we got married, so hopefully the stupid stuff we did earlier … That’s probably the closest I have to what the key is.”

She appeared on a few episodes of NCIS

On Harmon’s last season before he retired from NCIS after 18 seasons, Dawber joined her husband on the hit CBS show for a story arc as journalist Marcie Warren. The actress’s four episodes marked the first time the couple appeared together on the show.

Credit by @people.com