Mark Harmon’s looks nearly lost him the lead role on “NCIS,” the forensic drama with a military flair now in its third season.
Series creator Donald P. Bellisario had written the main character, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, as a tough-minded former Marine gunnery sergeant but had no specific actor in mind for the part.
“Someone mentioned Mark Harmon and I said, ‘He’s a pretty boy; I just don’t see him as this character,’” Bellisario said. But the producer reversed his thinking after watching Harmon in a four-episode 2002 story arc on “The West Wing.”
“I had envisioned the boyish Harmon, who was too good-looking, but I saw he now has a maturity to him,” Bellisario said.
Harmon was cast as Gibbs, whose investigative instincts and unblinking determination are lightly salted with extra-dry humor. His no-nonsense manner drives the team at the Naval Criminal Investigative Service in Washington to solve a barrage of cases – including forensic mysteries, bomb threats and cases involving missing children – while addressing him simply as “Boss.”
“As an actor, you don’t always know where a role is going, and part of the fun of playing this guy is that it changes and he continues to challenge me,” Harmon said of his character, whose occasional hints of past secrets intrigue his staff – and viewers.
“Networks and studios always want to know a character’s heritage and details, but I like to let those things grow with the show,” said Bellisario, who also created “Quantum Leap,” “Magnum, P.I.” and “Airwolf.”
“You can just say, ‘Gibbs was once married and lost a wife and child,’” but it’s better storytelling if viewers learn that another agent knows Gibbs had a wife and child who were murdered, Bellisario said.
Since its 2003 debut, the program has been a steady performer, ranking consistently among the top 20 prime-time shows and weathering several editions of Fox’s “American Idol.”
“NCIS” stemmed from a two-part episode of another Bellisario show, the now-defunct “JAG,” in which Gibbs and three other “NCIS” characters were introduced when they investigated a murder.
“I recognized this as a strong character piece, where there is always a caper,” said Harmon, who also appreciates the small complexities of his role.
“In one episode, Gibbs goes to tell a woman about her husband’s death, and you see this young boy in a half-finished treehouse. So that’s symbolic; the dad’s not coming home to finish it,” Harmon said. “Don’s instinct was that the story line needed the emotional push. But you see how Gibbs deals with kids better than adults because he is a kid in some ways.”
Bellisario’s initial doubts about casting Harmon are long past. “Mark is so into the role, he whitewalled his hair,” Bellisario said, referring to a hairstyle in which the sides and back are shaved almost bare. “He said, ‘You think I like wearing my hair like this?’ But he said Gibbs would wear it that way, and that’s enough for Mark.”
The program’s ensemble cast “makes everything look easier than it is,” Harmon said. “From the beginning, this group was either going to be successful as a group or not, and we all knew that. There is collective support of each other.”
The cast – Harmon, David McCallum, Pauley Perrette, Michael Weatherly, Sean Murray, Cote de Pablo and Lauren Holly – averages long days during production.
“And we keep the hammer down. Your clock gets shorter every day, but at the same time, it is a lovely place to work,” Harmon said. “I never lose perspective. You want to talk about hard work, let’s talk about working in a coal mine.
“Whatever time I am spending on the set, there is someone there longer and being paid far less. I’ve done other shows where you’re out there trying to get people to watch and you’re apologizing for the show. That is why it’s enjoyable that this one is working so well.”
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