Why didn’t Mark Harmon get to where he is?
Mark Harmon didn’t get to where he is just because of talent, hard work, good luck, and drive. Nepotism may have played a part, too. This actor is just one twig on a large and and important family tree that stretches throughout the entertainment history.
Everybody and their moms (okay, especially their moms) loves themselves some Mark Harmon. An all-American hunk ( People ‘s Sexist Man Alive, 1986) with the acting chops and charm to boot, he’s been on the Hollywood radar since the 1970s, when he shied away from a career in football and started working in film and television. After a few successful big-screen outings in the 1980s, particularly as a take-it-easy teacher in 1987’s low-key, high school classic Summer School, he settled into a career of seemingly never being too far gone from the small screen. Harmon has since become one of the most successful television actors of all time, having starred on the top-rated CBS military crime procedural NCIS for well over 15 years.
So, why did he never become a big-time movie star like other former small screen actors, such as George Clooney and Will Smith? It’s likely because he didn’t want to, preferring the relative routine nature of television production. Movies film for a few weeks or months and might shoot anywhere in the world, requiring an actor to fly off and leave their family a few times a year. A TV series, however, is usually taped at the same studio, week after week, for about 22 weeks a year. That was preferable to Harmon, and he made his choice during an emotional moment.
Mark Harmon’s sister, Kristin Harmon , died suddenly from a heart attack in April 2018 at age 72. While an actress and painter, she was best known for her personal life — she was wife to Rick Nelson (they married in 1963 when she was just 18 and three months pregnant) and mother of the Nelson twins and actress Tracy Nelson. Through it all, Kristin told People , she and her husband “were hippie rock ‘n’ rollers,” by which she meant they both had drug problems. She filed for divorce in 1980 and received custody of their four kids (including Sam, born in 1974). However, she continued to drink and do drugs, and Sam was shuffled around relatives’ homes, staying with her sister, Kelly, on afternoons and Saturdays, as well as living with his grandparents for a year and a half before ultimately moving in with Mark Harmon and Pam Dawber.
According to sources that spoke with Radar Online, Dave reportedly bit a member of the crew with such ferocity that the poor tech had to get 16 stitches. The insiders claimed that Harmon was “obviously horrified” and left Dave at home after that … until one occasion when his dog sitter plans fell through.
But this love was not to be: In the third season finale, Simon is shot and killed while attempting to stop an armed robbery in a New York bodega. Fans of The West Wing and Harmon were left brokenhearted, and so were some members of the show’s crew.
One of the young people crawled out of the vehicle on their own accord, but the other, Colin Specht, was hopelessly trapped in the burning automobile.
How long have Sean Murray and Mark Harmon been together?
The two have starred on the CBS show together for 16 years. NCIS actor Sean Murray exclusively speaks with CountryLiving.com about what it’s like to work with Mark Harmon. The two first met when Sean was just 15 years old on the set of Harts of the West.
The two first met when Sean was just 15 years old on the set of Harts of the West. Sean praises Mark’s “realness” and calls him “a very special individual.”. In the competitive space of crime TV, it’s tough to determine which shows will flourish and which will fail.
It’s safe to say that the long-running hit NCIS is a definite success—and it’s all because of Mark Harmon, its “number one,” says Sean Murray, the actor who plays Tim McGee. “We wouldn’t be here, 16 years later, if it wasn’t for [Mark] Harmon,” he exclusively tells CountryLiving.com. “Harmon is a very special individual.”.
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