MARK HARMON Biography - Actors and Actresses

 
 

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MARK HARMON

Name: Thomas Mark Harmon                                                                 
Born: 2 September 1951 Burbank, California, U.S.                                         
                                                                                         
Thomas Mark Harmon (better known as Mark Harmon) (born September 2, 1951) is an         
American actor. Since 2003, Harmon has starred as Leroy Jethro Gibbs in the CBS         
series NCIS.                                                                             
                                                                                         
Harmon was born in Burbank, California. His father is University of Michigan             
football All-American and Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon, and his mother is           
actress Elyse Knox, the daughter of politician Frank Knox. Mark has two older           
sisters: actress and painter Kristin Nelson and actress Kelly Harmon, who was           
once married to car magnate John DeLorean.                                               
                                                                                         
After attending Los Angeles Pierce College as a student and quarterback, Harmon         
transferred to UCLA and, following in his father's athletic footsteps, was the           
starting quarterback for the UCLA Bruins in 1972 and 1973, engineering a                 
stunning upset of the two-time defending national champion Nebraska Cornhuskers         
in 1972  . He received the National Football Foundation Award for                       
All-Round Excellence in 1973.                                                           
                                                                                         
After several years of supporting guest roles on episodic television shows such         
as Police Woman, Laverne & Shirley and The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries,             
Harmon landed his first prominent role in the 1980 primetime soap opera Flamingo         
Road where he played Morgan Fairchild's husband Fielding Carlisle. The series           
was shortlived, however, and following its cancellation he landed the role of Dr.       
Robert Caldwell on the prestigious Emmy-winning series St. Elsewhere in 1983. In         
1986, Harmon left the series as his character contracted HIV through unprotected         
heterosexual intercourse - a storyline that was notable for being one of the             
first ever instances in television history where a major recurring character             
contracted the virus (the character's subsequent offscreen death from AIDS would         
be mentioned two years later). Following this, Harmon had a limited engagement           
on the series Moonlighting playing Cybill Shepherd's love interest Sam Crawford         
for four episodes in 1987. Harmon's next regular television role would be as             
Chicago police detective Dickie Cobb for two seasons (1991-1993) on the NBC             
series Reasonable Doubts. He followed this with the eponymous role of Charlie           
Grace, an ABC series which lasted only one season. He returned to ensemble               
medical shows on the series Chicago Hope, in which he played Dr. Jack McNeil             
from 1996-2000. He later had a limited four episode run playing secret service           
agent Simon Donovan on The West Wing. Since 2003, Harmon has starred as Leroy           
Jethro Gibbs in CBS' drama television show NCIS.                                         
                                                                                         
Harmon has also made several television and theatrical films throughout his             
career. In the late 1970s, he had supporting roles in Comes A Horseman and               
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure. His most prominent starring roles were in the             
1987 comedy Summer School in which he co-starred with Kirstie Alley, and the             
1988 thriller The Presidio in which he co-starred with Sean Connery. He has also         
portrayed serial killer Ted Bundy in the 1986 television movie The Deliberate           
Stranger.                                                                               
                                                                                         
Harmon was named People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive in 1986.