ArkaEvren
Mark Harmon as Gibbs

Pictured: Mark Harmon

CHARACTER · NCIS

Gibbs

Appears in
NCIS (2003)
Played by
Mark Harmon

11 archived facts 4 topics

Gibbs is a character in the TV series NCIS (2003), played by Mark Harmon.

11 Interesting Facts About Gibbs

Interesting Facts (3)

  1. #001

    In Chained (2004), Gibbs fields repeated calls from strangers asking about a Volkswagen Bug listed for sale. Fed up, he snaps, "Do I look like someone who would drive a squishy little car?!" Mark had played serial killer Ted Bundy, a VW Bug driver, in The Deliberate Stranger (1986).

    INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  2. #002

    The shirts Gibbs wears while working on the boat in his basement are sent to Mark Harmon by law enforcement agencies across the country. He sometimes also wears a sweatshirt bearing the letters "NIS", short for Naval Investigative Service, the forerunner of NCIS.

    INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  3. #003

    DiNozzo first met Gibbs in 2001, when DiNozzo accidentally arrested him while Gibbs was working undercover on the same case.

    INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

    ShareReport

Characters & Cast (2)

  1. #004

    In one episode Kate asks Gibbs, "Gibbs? What did Ducky look like when he was younger?" Gibbs answers, "Illya Kuryakin", the role David McCallum played on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964).

    CHARACTERS & CAST · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  2. #005

    Before making it big, he worked as a carpenter, an early echo of the carpentry and wooden boat-building skills and interests of Leroy Jethro Gibbs, the character he plays on NCIS (2003).

    CHARACTERS & CAST · SOURCED

    ShareReport

Easter Eggs & References (1)

  1. #006
    Contains a major spoiler — show

    After Director Jenny Shepard is killed, Gibbs pulls a file from a box in his basement. Its number is 8675309, a nod to Tommy Tutone's song "867-5309/Jenny."

    EASTER EGGS & REFERENCES · SOURCED

    ShareReport

Life & Family (3)

  1. #007

    In flashbacks to Gibbs's younger years, the young Gibbs is played by Mark Harmon's son Sean, with the exception of the series NCIS: Origins.

    LIFE & FAMILY · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  2. #008

    Jackson Gibbs, Jethro's father, was a fighter pilot in the US Army Air Corps during World War II, as was Mark Harmon's real-life father, Tom Harmon. Ralph Waite played Jackson.

    LIFE & FAMILY · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  3. #009
    Contains a major spoiler — show

    Ralph Waite, who played Gibbs's father, died in 2014. The last episode of season 11 (Honor Thy Father, 2014), in which Gibbs deals with his father's death, was dedicated to his memory. In the closing scene of the following episode (Twenty Klicks, 2014), the mug on Gibbs's work table bears the name Ralph.

    LIFE & FAMILY · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  1. #010

    During the summer between seasons 3 and 4 of NCIS (2003), the producers called Mark and told him to stop shaving, because his character Jethro Gibbs was to get a gruffer look, mustache included.

    INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

    ShareReport
  2. #011

    Scott Bakula, lead of Bellisario's earlier series Quantum Leap (1989), was among the actors Bellisario weighed for the part of Gibbs. Bakula joined the franchise 11 years later as Special Agent Dwayne Pride, a former colleague of Gibbs and the central character of NCIS: New Orleans (2014).

    CHARACTERS & CAST · SOURCED

    ShareReport