Before ‘NCIS,’ Mark Harmon Made Television History in This 1980s Medical Drama
Mark Harmon in NCIS as Leroy Jethro GibbsCBS
NCIS star Mark Harmon first gained a measure of television stardom on the acclaimed NBC medical drama series St. Elsewhere in the role of Dr. Robert “Bobby” Caldwell, a handsome, womanizing plastic surgeon at the fictional St. Eligius Hospital in Boston. In 1985, after Harmon declared his intention to leave the series, the creative team behind St. Elsewhere decided to make Bobby the first ongoing heterosexual character in television history to be diagnosed with AIDS. Bobby learns of his HIV status in the fourth-season episode “Family Feud,” which originally aired on January 29, 1986, just a few days after Harmon was named People Magazine’s second-ever Sexiest Man Alive.
St. Elsewhere was groundbreaking with its realistic depiction of a busy hospital and the lives of the people who work there. This uncompromising approach is especially evident with the show’s matter-of-fact handling of Bobby’s AIDS diagnosis and its aftermath. However, this character arc is most elevated by Harmon’s powerful dramatic performance, through which Bobby transforms from a shallow sex symbol to a tragic victim of fate in the span of two episodes. Indeed, with “Family Feud” and Harmon’s subsequent final episode, “Family Affair,” Bobby traverses all the stages of grief, from denial to acceptance, before he’s gone forever.
When Mark Harmon’s character, Dr. Bobby Caldwell, became infected with AIDS on St. Elsewhere in 1986, the AIDS epidemic was most clearly embodied within the public’s consciousness by the shocking sight of legendary Hollywood star Rock Hudson’s gaunt appearance alongside Doris Day at a now historic and infamous press conference in 1985. St. Elsewhere altered the perception of AIDS through the heterosexual Bobby’s diagnosis, in which the previously promiscuous Bobby recognizes the destructive behavior that brought him to this point. This includes a previous unsettling sexual encounter with a woman who slashed Bobby’s face with a razor blade. Following Bobby’s AIDS diagnosis, he visits the office of hospital administrator Joan Halloran, a former lover of Bobby’s, to inform her of his diagnosis so that she can get tested. Then Bobby has to figure out what he’s going to do with the time he has left.
Mark Harmon as Gibbs on NCIS
Mark Harmon Chillingly Played Serial Killer Ted Bundy in This 1986 Miniseries
Mark Harmon’s unsettling performance as serial killer Ted Bundy in ‘The Deliberate Stranger’ perfectly captures Bundy’s psychotic persona.
Harmon’s final episode on St. Elsewhere, “Family Affair,” features one of his best scenes as an actor. This scene begins with Bobby intending to kill himself by injecting himself with a lethal drug cocktail. However, just before Bobby injects himself, there’s a knock on his apartment door. He sees a neighbor’s frightened young daughter, who tells Bobby that she accidentally flooded her upstairs apartment. Bobby agrees to help her. At that moment, Bobby finds a reason to live, at least for one more day. What reason, if any, will Bobby find convincing enough to make him want to live out the next day, and beyond?
‘St. Elsewhere’ Is a Forgotten Television Masterpiece
The Medical Drama Features a Great Cast
The St Elsewhere castNBC
St. Elsewhere was lavished with widespread critical praise during its original airing, and contemporary television critics and historians have consistently ranked the series as being among the best drama shows of its era. However, the serialized St. Elsewhere has been increasingly less visible through reruns and syndication over the past 35 years, and the series has become forgotten over time. To the degree that most people under the age of 40 are even familiar with St. Elsewhere, the show is most referenced as a footnote in the careers of Mark Harmon and Denzel Washington.
Despite receiving critical acclaim, St. Elsewhere failed to generate strong ratings throughout its initial run. While critics praised the show for its unflinching treatment of life-and-death issues, this proved too unsettling for many viewers. St. Elsewhere never took the easy way out, in terms of attaching easy answers and phony sentimentality to complex problems. This is especially evident with the show’s merciless treatment of Bobby Caldwell’s AIDS diagnosis.
