Mark Harmon's Secrets for a Happy Marriage: 'How a Devotion to Work Helped Scandal-free Star Stay on Top'
Mark Harmon secrets reveal how devotion to work kept the happy marriage and scandal-free star on top.
May 3 2025, Published 9:00 a.m. ET
NCIS superstar Mark Harmon credits his parents, his work ethic and his rock- solid marriage for keeping him on the straight and narrow in Hollywood, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The dashing actor – now in his 15th season playing Navy Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs – has amassed an estimated $90 million fortune during his career.
Looking back, the silver-haired hunk said his father, legendary Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon, and his mother, Elyse, put him on the right path.
Mark Harmon still calls himself the luckiest man alive after 30 years married to Pam Dawber.
"I had good parents," said the 66-year-old heartthrob. "I was raised with the idea of maximum effort, as long as you could look in the mirror and say, 'I gave it everything I had,' it was OK. But if you gave it less, that would disgrace you."
As for his career, Mark who's also starred in the series Flamingo Road,St. Elsewhere and Chicago Hope – said he's always taken the long view.
"I work hard to keep things in perspective. I think it's about a work in progress, about longevity, and my game has always been to achieve that," he said.
Mark married actress Pam Dawber of Mork & Mindy fame on March 21, 1987 – exactly one year after they met.
Dawber and her longtime love renewed their vows three decades after their wedding day.
The couple renewed their vows on their 30-year wedding anniversary – March 21, 2017.
"Mark has constantly said to me he's the luckiest man alive," said an insider close to the pair."He doesn't know what he would do without Pam.
"They still act like a pair of lovestruck teenagers."
A source close to the still bouncy 66-year-old brunette added: "Pam said she's grown to love her husband more every day, and somehow their love now is stronger than it was all those years ago.
"Pam wants to grow old with Mark. And what better way to start the second chapter of their life than to get remarried."
Donna Mills once called the ‘NCIS’ star irresistible, recalling his charm during their past romance.
Although they couldn't be happier today, the couple nearly called it quits years ago, partly because Mark wasn't happy with Dawber working long hours.
In the end, Dawber decided to quit show business to focus on raising their sons, Sean, 29, and Ty, 25.
"I don't think two can work all the time in show business and stay married," said Dawber, a former model who starred in a number of movies and the sitcom My Sister Sam.
"I did everything you can do in this business, and I had children and it's like, 'I'm not going to chase this fame thing."
But, like many Hollywood hotties, family man Mark did sow some wild oats.
Cristina Raines shared steamy on-set chemistry with Harmon during their 'Flamingo Road' days.
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As a young actor, he plunged into sizzling affairs with a bevy of Tinseltown beauties.
His list of conquests includes Knots Landing bombshell Donna Mills, singer Karen Carpenter and Flamingo Road co-star Cristina Raines.
At the time, Mills described Mark as catnip to women, gushing: "Whenever I see Mark, I think to myself, 'Your place or mine?'"
Even Mark confessed while playing rakish Dr. Robert Caldwell on St. Elsewhere, he enjoyed the perks of stardom.
"Women would come up to me and show me their breasts and ask for my opinion. And I gave it to them."
