Did a ‘Cold Call’ Lead to NCIS Star Mark Harmon’s First Date with His Wife?

Mark Harmon, the star of “NCIS,” recently shared a charming story about how he and his wife, actress Pam Dawber, first got together. In an interview with PEOPLE, Harmon revealed that a mutual friend had offered to set up a group date for the two of them, but he decided to take matters into his own hands. He cold-called Dawber to ask her out.

Harmon reminisced, “I said, ‘Can I just call? Can I get a number and just cold call?’ And so I did. I got the number, and I called, and I got an answering machine. And I started to leave a message that said, ‘We don’t have to all go out. We could get a cup of coffee or something.’ And then she was monitoring and she picked up.”

That impromptu phone call led to a date that same night, and the rest is history. The couple married exactly a year later, and they have been together for 36 years. Pam Dawber is best known for her role as Mindy McConnell in the ABC sitcom “Mork & Mindy” alongside Robin Williams. She also made a guest appearance on “NCIS,” sharing the screen with her husband. The couple has two children, Sean, who is an actor, and Ty, a screenwriter.

Mark Harmon, famous for his role as Leroy Jethro Gibbs on “NCIS” from 2003 until 2021, has since shifted his focus to writing. His debut historical non-fiction book, titled “Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, a Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor,” is set for release on November 14. The book delves into the true story of Japanese-American spy Douglas Wada, who gathered intelligence for the US Navy after the Pearl Harbor attack.

“NCIS” continues to air on CBS in the US, and in the UK, you can stream Seasons 1-20 on Disney+.