“I didn’t expect to like the script as much as I did when I first read it,” Harmon told Entertainment Tonight. “I was reading other things and I was also trying to stay home — young family and I wanted to try and be home more.”
So, what changed his mind?
“I read ‘Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ and thought, ‘Huh, I like that name,’” Harmon explained. “And then for a brief second when I decided that I liked the idea of the project, the name changed. Bob Johnson or something like that. And I went, ‘No, no, it’s gotta be Leroy Jethro Gibbs.’ The creator said, ‘No, you can’t play a guy named Leroy Jethro Gibbs,’ and I said, ‘Why not?’” the actor and writer continued. “And then it went back and I was happy about it.”
Another factor that contributed to him accepting the role was his family. TV shooting schedules meant he could work and come home at the end of the day, as opposed to movie productions that would take him away from his family for months at a time.
“It was important to be able to make pancakes on Saturday morning,” he told PEOPLE. “And there were some times where that meant not sleeping. You just came home and took a shower and came back down. And yet I look back at it and I don’t miss the sleep. I still missed things, I was working, but I’ve been part of their lives.”
Movieguide® previously reported on this decision:
Mark Harmon is well known for his TV fame on NCIS, but the actor had the chance to achieve movie fame. He recently shared how he put his family before his career.
While his children were young, Harmon headed to New Guinea to work on a movie. When he returned, his son was walking on his own — a milestone he missed due to his work schedule.
The actor told his wife, “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.”
Harmon turned his back on movie projects and focused on TV shows, where he could come home at the end of each day.
Harmon left NCIS in 2022 after 19 years on the show, but he still has plenty of fond memories of his time on set.
“I think you’re really lucky to find that [cast and crew relationship],” he told Fox News. “At times it’s really rare. I always thought that the show was about characters and it had humor. And yeah, there was a case and originally the case was based on the real. And then television changes, showrunners change, writers change, actors change, lots of changes. And that changes as well.”
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