Pam Dawber on her marriage and on how she gave up her fame for Mark Harmon

"Mork and Mindy" star Pam Dawber explained why she took a step back from the limelight after marrying actor Mark Harmon, and how it has impacted her marriage.

Pam Dawber shared the story of her marriage and why she decided that she didn't need to continue pursuing her acting career after she and the "NCIS" star had their two children.

Dawber and Harmon have been married for 31 years already. By Hollywood standards this is an eternity, as many celeb marriages don't make it through the first five years.

But Dawber confessed that she chose to take a step back from the camera and her budding career in order to make it work.

"I don't think two people can work all the time in show business and stay married," she shared.

When the pair first married she was coming off the high of "Mork and Mindy," and could easily have had her pick of acting jobs. At the same time, her husband's career was also going strong.

Now, Harmon is still a firm favorite on CBS's top rated crime drama series "NCIS," but Dawber seems to have disappeared altogether.

The former actress explains that after having their two sons, she gave up her career to raise them properly. Dawber's last notable role was voicing Perdy in the 1998 series "101 Dalmatians."

By then she had appeared on Broadway doing musical theater, and had worked on both films and series. She was content with all the roles she had gotten to experiment with in Hollywood, but was not prepared to continue her career at the expense of her children.

"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," she explained.

Sean is now 30 years old, while Ty is 26.

Dawber further does not believe it's right for celebrities to have their children splashed across the newspapers and tabloids every week, and refused to force her sons into the limelight.

She explained that to her, marriage and family is "real life," and not meant for everyone else's entertainment.

Despite her early fame, her sons have never seen any of her work, because to them she is just "mom."

"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," she said.

With her sons now fully grown adults, she does make an occasional guest appearance, most recently in "The Odd Couple"'s tribute episode to Garry Marshall, who helped Dawber out when she first starred in "Mork and Mindy."

In the meantime, her husband has signed a new contract for "NCIS," with the series going into its 16th season in September.