Mark Harmon Got Valuable Advice From His Dad – And It Had A H.uge Inf-luence On The NCIS Star’s Life

[Music] Mark Harmon got valuable advice from his dad and it had a huge influence on the NCIS star's life actor Mark Harmon has known to most as Leroy jethro gibbs from the hugely successful TV show NCIS but did you know he comes from a very famous family his father was NFL star and broadcaster Tom Harmon recently mark spoke to People magazine about the profound and slightly profane advice his father imparted to him it sounded like it could have come from an MC is seen between Gibbs and Jackson but it was real and he's carried it with him throughout his whole life the Harmon family tree has dotted all over with famous faces at the top there's football star Tom and his wife Elise Knox and actress then there's Mark himself of course and Mark's sister Kristen with The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet actor Rick Nelson from that Union came actress Tracy Nelson and rockers Matthew and Gunnar Nelson mark is also married to someone from the celebrity world in 1987 he got hitched to Mork & Mindy actress Pam Dawber they have two sons screenwriter ty and actor Sean you won't catch any of the Harmons on Facebook or Instagram though the whole family intensely maintained their privacy mark was raised without even knowing how famous his father was it didn't hit me until one day when I was riding in the car with my father in Ann Arbor Michigan I was maybe eight and could barely see above the dashboard and we stopped at a crosswalk he told closer weakly in 2018 suddenly we were surrounded by people who recognized my dad and were really thrilled to see him I remember looking at this man I thought I knew so well in thinking who are you mark went on his father wasn't one to make a big deal about his achievements mark didn't even know his dad was a Heisman Trophy winner mark found out about the award from a kid at the park he told n WI times in 2010 Tom hadn't even mentioned it to his son I didn't know much about his celebrity and that was a credit to him he was just dad and a good one mark explained he didn't come home and say hey I'm gonna be on TV in ten minutes let's all watch however there was even more to Tom's past than the awards and the fame marks famous father was also in the Army Air Corps and served as a fighter pilot during World War two some amazing stories came out of that time not once but twice during the conflict he went missing in action on top of that Tom cheated death twice in April 1943 his plane nicknamed old 98 after his jersey number crashed in a jungle in what is now the Republic of Suriname then known as Dutch Guiana there had been six crew members on board but Tom was the only survivor he persevered for four days in the jungle before being rescued his second act of bravery happened when he bailed out of a plane over China upon landing he saw that his parachute had bullet holes in it and he pretended to be dead so that the enemy fighters would leave later on his bride Elise would make her wedding dress from the remains of that parachute once the war was over tom joined the Los Angeles Rams unfortunately though his experiences in the war had taken a toll on him unable to play as effectively as he had done before he retired from football and became a broadcaster he would later say that broadcasting was the only job he'd ever wanted mark came close to following in the footsteps of his father when he played football at Pierce College as a youngster Scouts took an interest mark ended up playing for UCLA but ultimately he wasn't interested in a football career he earned himself a degree in communications and aspired to become an actor it took a while before mark was able to make it as a leading man he performed in TV shows that faded into utter obscurity before too long Sam 240 Robert Flamingo Road Charlie grace but eventually he got his big break he was cast as Robert Caldwell on st. elsewhere which ran from 1982 to 1988 the show catapulted mark into acting fame and also won him a notable accolade in 1986 mark was named as People magazine's sexiest man alive only the second person to ever hold that title people called him the new definition of sexy and noted his gleaming grin chiseled pecs and piercing blue eyes mark gave an interview to people for the occasion and it was quite illuminating about his past and his relationship with his father things between mark and Tom hadn't always been good he raised me hard and when I say hard I mean hard mark said I was taught to fight for everything and that the only way to go about getting something was with everything you had Tom was also away from his home and family a lot we missed a lot of time together mark explained when his father was around they would play catch together but Tom would turn it into a lesson he wanted me to work on control when I threw a wild ball which I inevitably did my dad went into the house Mark said he wanted me to be self-motivated he only saw me play football in high school once and didn't watch again until two and a half years later at UCLA mark went on Tom himself shared his thoughts on the matter to people I never spared the rod and he'd get whacked if he did something wrong he said but look at my kids now they all know the difference between right and wrong and there isn't a druggie in the bunch however the relationship between Mark and his father did improve in 1972 the 19 year old Mark led his football team to a win against Nebraska at that had previously won 32 games in a row after the match mark told people I took off my uniform and started for the showers and standing over at the far wall was my dad he had been there for two and a half hours and he had not come into my cubicle we locked eyes Mark continued to people he stood up straight and said to me hey great game I burst into tears compliments from my dad never had been easy coming and I reached out and we hugged each other from that moment I knew my dad unfortunately Tom passed away in 1990 the same day he won a golf competition at the bel-air Country Club he had a heart attack he was rushed to the UCLA Medical Center but it was too late he was declared dead while still at the emergency room tom was only 70 years old at the time and mark just 38 by that point mark was starting to have children of his own and he decided consciously to spend as much time with them as possible even though work commitments called to him I left to do a movie in New Guinea and our oldest had just taken his first steps the day I left he told CBS in 2013 referring to the 1991 film till there was you and I came back three months later and he got out of the car by himself and walked up the sidewalk and grabbed onto my leg at the airport Mark continued the toddler he was referring to was his son Shawn Thomas Harman note the middle name who was his first child with Dawber after Shawn grabbed on to his leg Mark told CBS I turned to my wife and I said hate to tell you but I'm not gonna be doing new movies in New Guinea for the rest of my life to be able to afford the house we're in and miss all this instead he was going to focus on being there for his family now the Harmon children are grown adults Shawn followed in his father's footsteps and became an actor an actor on NCIS no less when a younger Gibbs appears in flashbacks that's Shawn playing him Shawn's also appeared on NCIS Los Angeles and CSI and tie marks second child with Dawber is a screenwriter despite his successful home life mark has faced more sadness in the years since his father died in 2012 his mother Elise passed away at the age of 94 and a few years after that in 2018 his sister Kristen Harman died of a heart attack mark had earlier had a famous legal battle with her over the custody of her son Kristen had drug problems during her life which only intensified after her husband Rick Nelson died in a plane crash in 1985 and by 1987 mark was suing Kristen for custody of her youngest son Sam he claimed that the boy then 12 was unhappy with his mother and needed to be placed in a better environment Kristen claimed to people that she had cracked under the pressure of being in a famous family they expected her to be a perfect person and although she didn't get along with her mother I never cared much about being on the covers of magazines she did she was once close with Mark I tried telling my family there's a drug problem here and we've all got to help but they totally denied there was anything wrong Kristen told people and indeed the magazine writers remembered and featured in their story Tom's there isn't a druggie in the bunch quote from two years prior in the end the feud was resolved about as amicably as it could be mark apparently made the first move by contacting Kristin's attorney an agreement was reached Kristen got to keep custody of Sam while Mark got visiting rights perhaps unsurprisingly therapy was also mandated for all three of them in a 2016 interview with medium the adults Sam spoke out about his relationship with his mother as you get older things that were important aren't important anymore problems aren't problems anymore he said you work through them or you don't but for the most part you hope to I think we're in a good way together in the same interview Sam spoke about Tom his famous granddad I lived with my grandparents on the Harmon side during my parents divorce he said my grandfather passed away in 1990 of a massive heart attack it was especially difficult to lose him as he was a father figure to me mark doesn't talk about his personal life much he didn't speak about Kristin's death to the media and he doesn't use social media either I'm not a Twitter guy or a Facebook guy our sons aren't into that either Pam and I have both made a living in this business and still there's a part of that that's just not natural he told TV insider in 2017 however in February 2019 mark offered fans a quite in-depth look into his life and motivations he had spent his whole career following the advice of his father he said my dad taught me if it's not true don't worry about it he told people those are wise words for anyone in the media spotlight there were other things that Tom had taught his son including the importance of hard work and perseverance I come from working stock and I'm proud of that you have to get up every day and just try hard mark told people that's what I still wake up willing to do try my hardest mark shared some more of his father's advice with the magazine work yah asterisk asterisk off and don't let the effort show he said also treat people the same not based on who they are or what they are show them common kindness don't be colored by their Fame or profession I don't get all excited by people blowing smoke up my Oster ask asterisk you have to stay honest that sort of bluntness appears to have passed down to mark you can tell me I can't do something but I'm likely to take that as incentive to prove you wrong he told people I'm a jock so you can yell at me all day long and that won't hurt me I'm just going to try to get better mark also revealed to people that he was never too bothered about being named the magazine's sexiest man alive back in 1986 oh it isn't that I hate it really he said it's just that I'm not about to take it seriously and let's just say I think maybe a few too many people have at the end of the interview the NCIS actor dispensed some advice himself this choice this career requires you to be all-in he said your job is to be prepared for the opportunity it will come you just won't know when so until then all you can do is invest in yourself I've always worked hard I've always tried to pay attention to the little things but here's the real secret there are no little things mark went on the magazine pointed out how long the one-time football player's career in the acting world had lasted I'm a lucky guy but you are in luck Mark said that luck shows no sign of going away anytime soon NCIS has still a massively popular drama even though it's been running for 16 seasons now it pulls in 12 million viewers every week and spawned two spin-off shows called NCIS Los Angeles and NCIS New Orleans it's an unstoppable TV juggernaut Mark's role as Gibbs is so tied to the success of NCIS that he almost certainly won't ever leave the show and has said as much to the media in fact Mark and Gibbs have a lot in common Gibbs his father Jackson played by late actor Ralph Waite was a world war 2 fighter pilot just like Thom Hartmann was Sharon subscribes Star News 24 24th Scannell thank you for watching video you

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Keywords: News, star, star news, entertainment news, Life, Breaking News, STAR NEWS TODAY, singer, musician, family, home, actress, world star, comedian, film, Mark Harmon, Tom Harmon

Id: 0jEd8wKx8yM

Length: 14min 2sec (842 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 22 2019