With acting credits that span decades, Mark Harmon’s portrayal of Leroy Jethro Gibbs on NCIS is what most people know him for best. Without the four episodes of The West Wing when Harmon played Secret Service Agent Simon Donovan in 2002, the veteran actor might have never become Gibbs at all.
Harmon wasn’t an obvious choice to play Gibbs, nor was he the preferred option. NCIS creator saw Harmon, dubbed People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive in 1986, on The West Wing in 2002, and it reshaped how he viewed the actor. He cast Harmon, but it ended up being a much more challenging decision than he ever could have anticipated.
What happened to earn Harmon the leading role on NCIS and how it shaped the show are inextricably linked to The West Wing. Here’s how.
Mark Harmon Appeared as Secret Service Agent Simon Donovan in Season 3 of ‘The West Wing’
As Secret Service Agent Simon Donovan, Mark Harmon appeared in four episodes of The West Wing. Donovan was assigned to protect White House Press Secretary C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney) from a stalker. The rapport between Donovan and Cregg was enjoyable to watch. The stalker was apprehended, at which point Cregg kissed Donovan. The sexual tension between them had been growing and, once the job was done, it seemed as though it would finally reach its climax. Unfortunately for Donovan, he walked into a robbery in progress at a Korean grocery store. He was shot and killed, news that later brought Cregg to tears.
Harmon’s portrayal of the stoic Secret Service Agent earned him an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. It was also noticed by the show’s co-creator, Donald Bellisario, who was looking for his Gibbs. He told Entertainment Weekly in 2006,
“What I saw was a very controlled presence, a quiet strength. That’s what I was looking for. Leroy is Mark’s kind of guy. Mark has that jock mentality — you tough it out no matter how tough it is.”
Mark Harmon and Don Bellisario’s Relationship Didn’t Last
When NCIS premiered in 2003, Mark Harmon was in the lead role as Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. He wasn’t the first choice for the show, however. Charles Floyd Johnson, executive producer of NCIS, said Mark Harmon’s audition influenced how the show took shape:
“Mark Harmon just made a big impression. They started testing it, and the first half-hour tested so well that [then-CBS head] Les Moonves said, ‘Why don’t we just make it all investigation?’ So that’s how it came about.”
Other actors were considered for the show, including Harrison Ford, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn, and Andrew McCarthy. NCIS casting director Susan Bluestein had Harmon in mind from the start because she’d cast him in a project in 1991. She knew he had “the gravitas for this character,” but Bellisario still needed convincing. Harmon and Bellisario had a meeting and, as Paul Golden from CBS explained, “they hit it off and Mark agreed to do it.”
While they may have gotten along at first, things soured between Bellisario and Harmon within a few seasons. By 2007, Harmon and Bellisario were at odds over how the show was made and Harmon threatened to quit. The feud that developed between Mark Harmon and NCIS co-creator and executive producer Donald Bellisario nearly brought the show to an end. According to insiders, Harmon thought Bellisario had a “chaotic management style” and tried “to micromanage everything.” That insider elaborated, “Script pages get faxed to the set at the last minute, and Mark is tired of dealing with the huge impact that makes on his life. He doesn’t have time for his family or anything when he’s working hours like that.”
