Pam Dawber
Actress Pam Dawber grew up in a suburb of Detroit, the daughter of Thelma M. and Eugene E. Dawber, a commercial artist.. Her career began to take off when a friend who was going to New York suggested that Pam accompany her and bring along her modeling portfolio to show various New York modeling agents. Pam was a pretty girl and had done some modeling in Detroit where she was attending Oakland Community College, and she had also worked as a model and singer in several auto trade shows. One of the top modeling agencies in New York signed Pam to an exclusive contract, and she was soon being seen in magazine advertisements and on TV commercials but Pam was more interested in acting than in modeling.
She began studying voice and acting. A leading role in a stock production of a musical comedy called "Sweet Adeline" at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut, led to her being auditioned for a major role on a new TV series called "Tabitha" (1977). To her disappointment, Pam did not get the part, but she did get an important role in the Robert Altman film A Wedding (1978) and, shortly after, signed an exclusive contract with ABC-TV. ABC cast Pam as the female lead in "Mork & Mindy"
Pam got to use her four-octave soprano voice in a 1980s Los Angeles Civic Light Opera production of Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance, based on the Joseph Papp/New York Shakespeare Festival production. Her role, as Mabel, had been played by Linda Ronstadt in the New York run of the show.
From 1986 to 1988, Pam again had the title role in a TV series, playing Samantha Russell in the CBS sitcom My Sister Sam, co-starring Rebecca Schaeffer. Rebecca was shot and killed by an obsessed fan in front of her apartment in 1989, which devastated Pam.
She parodied her Mork & Mindy character in the 1992 movie Stay Tuned, in which she co-starred with John Ritter, who parodied his Three's Company role.
She has been married to actor Mark Harmon since March 21, 1987. The couple appeared together in the film I'll Remember April, and have two sons: Sean Thomas Harmon (22) and Ty Christian Harmon (18).
Pam currently works as a producer and makes occasional TV appearences. She is a national spokeswoman for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.