Trivia

Risked his life to save two teenage boys who were involved in a car accident outside of his home. Harmon used a sledgehammer from his garage to break the window out of their car, then pulled them free so they wouldn't be burned to death, while his wife, Pam Dawber, called 911. He made every effort to downplay his role in saving their lives. (1996)

He graduated cum laude from UCLA with a degree in communications (1974). Also played quarterback for UCLA Bruins, winning National Football Foundation Award for all-around excellence (1972-73).

Mark studied American Sign Language for his various television roles with The Sign Company.

Worked as a carpenter before he hit it big, foretelling the carpentry and wooden boat-building interest and skills of Leroy Jethro Gibbs, the character he plays on NCIS (2003).

When he was 16 years old, at his after-school job delivering flowers, he found a dozen roses addressed to a girl who was dating a friend of his. But the roses weren't from his friend. Mark threw away the card and substituted one with his friend's name on it.

His oldest son, Sean Harmon, portrayed a young Gibbs on NCIS (2003).

Mark has been known to wear shirts that were sent to him by his fans.

Was paid $2,000,000 for doing the Coors commercials back in the 1980s.

Early in his career, he was known for being the face of Coors beer, for doing more than 20 Coors beer commercials in the early 1980s.

After his very successful college football career at UCLA, he was offered the opportunity to turn professional with a contract to play for the NFL New England Patriots. It wasn't an easy decision but he turned it down. He didn't think he was good enough, but mainly thought that college was about getting an education and making something out of it, as opposed to using college to build a career as a jock.

On the set of NCIS (2003), Mark uses a 1972 Airstream trailer that he restored himself as a dressing room. The trailer has red-and-white checkered floors, and an 8-track player.

Studied pre-med in college before transferring to communications. He later played doctors on St. Elsewhere (1982) and Chicago Hope (1994).

Mark and Pam Dawber married on March 21, 1987, exactly one year after they met. They met on March 21, 1986.

In his first UCLA game, Mark led the Bruins to a 20-17 underdog win over Nebraska, snapping the two-time defending national champion's 32-game winning streak.

His favorite actors are Gary Cooper, Buster Keaton, and William S. Hart. The license plates on his 1956 Dodge pickup and 1984 Porsche read YUHP and UH-HUH-both common Gary Cooper sayings.

He was cast as Leroy Jethro Gibbs on NCIS (2003) after series creator/producer Donald P. Bellisario saw his commanding performance as a Secret Service agent on The West Wing (1999).

Mark has broken his shoulder twice. Once during the filming of the movie Summer School (1987), and another incident while filming a Coors beer commercial.

He broke an eardrum while shooting Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979).

First television appearance was with his father in a commercial for Kellogg's Product 19 cereal.

His legendary father, Tom Harmon, played halfback for the University of Michigan Wolverines (1938-40), winning the 1940 Heisman Trophy, emblematic of the best player in the nation, for his efforts.

In 2011, he was voted the fourth-most-popular actor on prime-time television.

Mark's father was of three-quarters Irish ancestry, with the rest being French and German. The family surname was changed from Hermann to Harmon several generations back. Mark's maternal grandparents were Austrian (from Vienna).

Bought his first car when he was 13: a 1928 Ford.

One of the most notorious characters that Mark played was serial killer Ted Bundy in the television movie The Deliberate Stranger (1986).

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Television at 6253 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on October 1, 2012.

When he was younger, he bore a strong resemblance to Ricky Nelson, which subsequently led him to be misidentified in newspapers as Nelson's brother when they were actually only brothers-in-law.

Was a big runner after college; used to run 60 to 70 miles a week.

When he was younger, he ran 45 miles a week.

His Airstream trailer can be seen in NCIS (2003) flashback scenes in "Hiatus: Parts 1 and 2". In the season 2 episode "Black Water". his trailer and his 1984 Porsche can be seen in the back lot of the television studio as Gibbs and DiNozzo arrive to interview Celina Lockhart.

Was a marathon runner and knows how to play the guitar.

Before they were married, Mark Harmon and Pam Dawber once went on a double date with Julianne Phillips and Bruce Springsteen.

Uncle of Tracy Nelson, Matthew Nelson, Gunnar Nelson, and Sam Nelson.

He broke his collarbone during a spring practice football scrimmage at UCLA (1973).

Almost chose to play football for Oklahoma. Later, he decided to play for the Bruins because their program was on a downswing and he wanted to help turn it around.

Mark received the nickname 'Quarterback' because his dad was an announcer for the football games that Mark played in when he was younger. His father did not want to call Mark by name, so instead he called him Quarterback.

He now does pilates to keep in shape.

Has a 1951 Woody that he and his father restored.

He loves dogs. He once had an Australian shepherd, a golden retriever, and a bearded collie.

Has played the same character (Leroy Jethro Gibbs) in five different series: JAG (1995), NCIS (2003), NCIS: Los Angeles (2009), Family Guy (1999) and NCIS: New Orleans (2014).

Mark received a call from the producers during the summer between seasons 3 and 4 of NCIS (2003) telling him to stop shaving, because his character Jethro Gibbs was to have a more gruff look, along with a mustache.

Gary Cooper is his acting idol, due to the respect Mark has for Cooper's acting philosophy.

His godfather, Forest Evashevski, is in the National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame for coaching.

He was considered for the role of Dan Gallagher in Fatal Attraction (1987), which went to Michael Douglas.

His first paid acting gig was playing a gorilla on Ozzie's Girls (1973). The show's titular star and producer, Ozzie Nelson, was his relative by marriage.

Mark has an abducted left knee from his football career.

Favorite television series while growing up was Combat! (1962).

Chosen as People magazine's second annual "Sexiest Man Alive", between inaugural winner Mel Gibson, who won for 1985, and third year winner Harry Hamlin, who won for 1987. (1986)

Had two famous (or infamous) brothers-in-law: car magnate John DeLorean, who was convicted in federal court of drug charges related to raising money to keep his car company afloat with drug proceeds, and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Ricky Nelson, who died from severe burns in a DC-3 plane crash that was, at one time, thought to have been caused by Ricky was using the gas heater on the plane to ignite drugs. The drug theory was later discounted.

His mother, Elyse Knox - who was married to the legendary Tom Harmon - passed away on February 15, 2012, at age 94.

Younger brother of Kelly Harmon and Kristin Harmon.