By Kate O’Hare,Zap2it.com

Mark Harmon, who plays Naval Criminal Investigative Service Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs on the Tuesday-night CBS drama “NCIS,” didn’t want a fuss made about his birthday on Sept. 2. Apparently, his wishes were ignored by co-star Michael Weatherly and new cast member Lauren Holly, who worked with Harmon on “Chicago Hope.”

The frequent victim of Harmon’s practical jokes, Holly collaborated with Weatherly on a Harmon birthday extravaganza.

“It started out,” Holly says, “with ordering 150 T-shirts that said, “It’s Mark Harmon’s birthday,’ that we passed out to the entire crew.”

As Holly tells it, on Thursday night, she waited in her hotel room for the heads-up call from Weatherly that shooting was wrapping. At three o’clock a.m., still in her pajamas, Holly got the call, loaded up her car with party supplies and drove back to the show’s sets in Santa Clarita, Calif.

“Mark had just pulled out,” she says. “I almost ran into him. It was a very undercover mission.”

She and Weatherly then proceeded to cover Harmon’s trailer with crepe paper, helium balloons and pinatas, then dumped confetti inside “so it was 3 inches deep everywhere.”

They decorated every wall, truck and trailer, then, with the cooperation of the art department, put up a picture of Harmon on all the plasma-screen displays in the squad-room set.

Holly then hopped on a plane on Friday to fly back to her husband and three sons in Chicago and waited for word on Harmon’s reaction.

“He arrived to work with everybody dressed in the t-shirts, holding signs,” she says. “From a distance, he told me he thought something had happened and there was a strike, because he saw these people parading around with signs.

“The executive producers called Michael. They were really nervous, “Who did this? What’s Mark going to say?’ Michael was like, “I’m not going to name any names … Lauren Holly.’

“But in true Mark fashion, I thought he was going to freak out at first and then ultimately love it, but instead, he just loved it right off the bat. He was so happy and so touched. They had filmed the whole thing, his arrival, so he took the DVD home to show Pam (Dawber, Harmon’s wife). She had a great laugh.

“It was really fun, even though he’ll probably have confetti in his trailer for at least three seasons. But he did say to me, “Payback’s a bitch,’ which makes me a little nervous.”‘

“NCIS” returns for season three on Tuesday, with “Kill Ari (Part 1).” It picks up on the cliffhanger season-two finale, showing how Gibbs and his team (Weatherly, Pauley Perrette, Sean Murray, David McCallum) react to the murder of Special Agent Caitlin Todd (Sasha Alexander, who returns for a memorable guest appearance).

Holly plays the recurring role of new NCIS Director Jenny Shepard, who is both Gibbs’ new boss and former lover (she’s a redhead, one of many he’s romanced and/or married). Both these things – especially the past relationship – should become obvious when fans see the premiere.

“Did you see the first episode?” Holly says. “Did you see what we were doing in that flashback? Holy cow. Yeah, I think there’s going to be some interesting stuff between Mark and me.”

Holly says that Harmon kept mentioning her name to “NCIS” creator Don Bellisario. When the right role finally came, Holly turned to Harmon for advice.

“I called him up and said, “Just tell me one thing, is it a good place to work? Is it enough to drag me out of my suburban life here?’ He said to me, “Lauren, it’s the best place I’ve ever worked.’

“I love how Pauley Perrette always says to me, “There’s not an onion in the salad.”‘

There is one thing, though, that Holly wishes she could change about her first appearance.

“No comments about my hairdo,” she says. “Don was very concerned that I come off as a boss and wanted to make that very clear. Then he called me and said – which I don’t think Don says very often – “I made a mistake. Now it’s coming through in your attitude, so I want to loosen you up a little bit.”‘

One thing Holly wouldn’t change is that she got to be featured in of the show’s visual signatures – three-second black-and-white snippets that appear as the show returns from commercial, which are revealed later as the shot that ends the segment at the next commercial break.

“One of the things I was excited about,” Holly says, “is that I get one of those black-and-white things.”

Holly also has no plans to stop finding ways to tease Harmon. “He’s got those baby blues. All you have to do is say, “Baby blues,’ “Papa Bear,’ “You’re so sexy.’ I have a whole list of things that I say when I just feel like making him blush.”

(c) 2005, Zap2it.com.

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