They put a steel plate and nine screws in it”: Mark Harmon’s Worst On-Set Injury Wasn’t During NCIS But A Way Different Project

Prior to headlining NCIS as Agent Leroy Jethro Gibb, Mark Harmon played a tough homicide cop in 1988’s The Presidio, starring Sir Sean Connery. Even though it wasn’t a major hit, the movie did garner acclaim for its beautifully choreographed action sequences, which were pretty intense for Harmon, who didn’t resort to taping his ankles for the stunt sequences.

Having already broken his shoulder once during Summer School, during his time on the ad shoot, which saw him riding a horse, the actor confessed to sustaining a compound dislocation in his shoulder. This eventually led to subsequent surgeries, which involved the insertion of a steel plate and nine screws in his shoulder Even though Mark Harmon served as a Quarterback for the UCLA team back in ’72 and ’73, the rigorous physical demands of acting did take a toll on him. But while it was The Presidio that required him to jump over automobiles, it was the filming of a Coors Beer commercial that contributed to his most severe injury.