What happened to Mork & Mindy star Pam Dawber? Inside her life now after stepping away from Hollywood

After Mork & Mindy came to an end in 1982, Pam's next big role was starring as Samantha Russell on My Sister Sam between 1986 and 1988. One year after the show was cancelled, the actress Rebecca Schaeffer who played Pam's on-screen sister Patti was fatally shot by a stalker, prompting Pam to move into activism. 

Alongside her castmates, she filmed a public service announcement that led to the first anti-stalking law in the United States.

Pam married actor Mark Harmon, who was then starring in St. Elsewhere, in March 1987. The couple will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary in 2027 and are parents to two sons, Sean and Ty. The couple rarely appear in public together, and speaking when they were engaged, Pam said she didn't want their relationship to be "totally exploited by the press". 

However, speaking about the secret to their long-lasting marriage in 2023, Mark told People: "I have no secret. We laugh. You got to laugh, and you got to talk and communicate. That's the fun part. Do we sit and talk about it? No. Maybe you just get fortunate and find the right one. We share many things and yet we're really different."

While her sons were young, Pam took some time out to raise them while occasionally appearing in TV movies and working as a voice actor. She also reunited with her Mork & Mindy co-star Robin Williams when she guest-starred on his sitcom, The Crazy Ones, in 2013.

However, Pam did make a return to television when she starred in seven episodes of NCIS in 2021 alongside her husband, who played Leroy Jethro Gibbs between 2003 and 2022. 

Mark previously revealed that a reason he enjoyed the role for so long was because it allowed him to be a regular part of family life. "I was working, but I've been part of [my sons’] lives. I've been able to spend more time with them," he said. "In many ways, we've had a great opportunity to kind of grow as a family."

Speaking at the time of her NCIS appearance, Pam revealed she had been approached to have a guest role on a few occasions, but the timing was never quite right or she was nervous about making a return to acting.

"Either I just didn't want to do it or I didn't appreciate what it was they wanted me to do. Or it was near Christmas and it was like, 'I can't do this. I've got my parents coming into town,'" she told Entertainment Weekly. "I just haven't been interested in, you know, chasing the business. At this age, that's what you do. You'd have to really want it. I just don't want to put myself out anymore."