The star of ‘Mork & Mindy’, Pam Dawber, strongly believes that if she continued with her full-time acting job her marriage with Mark Harmon would not have lasted very long. She says that she doesn’t think that two people can have a successful marriage and be in show business at the same time.
Mark and his wife Pam are both 65 now and next year will be their 30th anniversary of their marriage. When they got married, Pam was very successful in her TV career doing the sitcom ‘Mork & Mindy’. She also had roles in ‘St. Elsewhere’ and ‘The Love Boat’. However, she gave up her acting career and fame for her role of a mother to her two sons – Sean (28) and Ty (24).
“I was in a number one show. I had my own deal. I got to do Broadway. I got to do musical theater. I got to do cartoon voices. I did everything you can do in this business, and then I had children and it’s like, ‘I’m not going to chase this fame thing’. I wanted to drive my kids to school. I wanted to be there for their birthdays and bring cupcakes and donuts and do the school festivals and all that, and I did. I got to teach in their art class and so it was a different life then and I was very happy to do it, “ says Dawber.
Pam’s last acting role was on the animated TV show ‘101 Dalmatians: The Series’ (1998) in which she lent her voice to Perdy.
Pam says that she decided to keep her family life apart from the tabloids and not to expose her children to that life. Moreover, her children still haven’t seen any of her previous work as an actress.
“I’m just their mom,” she says. “They don’t care about what I did. They care about what they are doing. They want their parents to care about what they are doing. Their father is already iconic enough for two boys. I am just the mom.”
And now that her kids are older, she makes an appearance on television from time to time. Recently, she was a guest star on the tribute called “Odd Couple”; a tribute to the late Garry Marshal, the man who helped her and Robin Williams to start working on ‘Mork & Mindy’.
Prior to this appearance, she reunited with Robin Williams on “The Crazy Ones”. She said that she did this only because she hasn’t seen Robin for 20 years and wanted to see him. His presence was a true gift for her.
