Mark Harmon's Touching Tribute To Late NCIS Co-Star David McCallum

It's a testament to an actor's body of work that they can appear on the same television series for 20 years and still have a litany of roles people can know them by. David McCallum acted for decades prior to his death on September 25, 2023. While he's probably best known to modern audiences for playing Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard on 20 seasons of "NCIS," he has a slew of other prominent roles in the likes of "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." and "The Great Escape." But the actor clearly made an impact on the CBS procedural, as evidenced by numerous co-stars reacting to McCallum's death by showing their gratitude for being able to work with him.

This includes the other actor synonymous with "NCIS" — Mark Harmon, who played Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs until Season 19. With Harmon's leaving, McCallum was the last remaining cast member around since the first episode. As such, it's only appropriate Harmon paid tribute to his former co-star in a statement to TV Line: "David lived a great, full, long life. I was in awe when I first met him and all of us on the show were honored to have toed a mark opposite him. My condolences go out to [McCallum's wife] Katherine and his family."

It's a rare public statement from Harmon, but when it comes to paying tribute to a stellar actor and friend, it makes sense for him to express how much working with McCallum meant to him. 

Plenty of actors had "NCIS" to thank for launching their careers. But both Mark Harmon and David McCallum were experienced thespians before they arrived on the CBS drama. Harmon's acting career goes back to the 1970s, so McCallum was a contemporary. And over the years, Harmon didn't mince words about what it was like to work with an actor of his caliber. For example, in a 2013 interview with The Seattle Times, Harmon affirmed that just because he was the lead of "NCIS," that didn't make him more important than anyone else: "I'm not the big dog. I might be a dog. But there's a lot of dogs." It's not hard to imagine he was referencing McCallum with that statement.

It wouldn't be the last time Harmon's admiration for his co-star would come to light. A 2020 issue of TV Guide had Harmon and McCallum on the cover to celebrate the 400th episode of "NCIS." There's an anecdote within those pages about Harmon first meeting McCallum where he said, "I can't believe I'm meeting Illya Kuryakin!" It's a reference to McCallum's character on "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," whom he played from 1964 to 1968. Humorously, McCallum was taken aback by the statement, as he responded, "Good lord, that was 40 years ago!"

And even though Harmon was known for playing pranks on the "NCIS" set, he never tried to pull one over on McCallum. The two truly liked each other, both on and off set, and when "NCIS" returns for Season 21, there will inevitably be a touching tribute to the late actor.