Pam Dawber

Pam Dawber
Pam Dawber in 2012
Born	Pamela Dawber (1951-10-18) October 18, 1951 (age 65) Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, producer
Years active	1978–present
Spouse(s)	Mark Harmon (m. 1987)
Children	2

Pamela "Pam" Dawber (born October 18, 1951) is an American actress best known for her lead television sitcom roles as Mindy McConnell in Mork & Mindy (1978–1982) and Samantha Russell in My Sister Sam (1986–1988).

Dawber was born in Detroit, Michigan, the older of two daughters of Thelma M. (née Fisher) and Eugene E. Dawber, a commercial artist. She went to elementary school in Goodrich and attended North Farmington High School and Oakland Community College, with the intention of transferring to a four-year college. She deferred her studies at OCC to do some modeling work and eventually dropped out after deciding to go into modeling full-time.

Dawber moved to New York City and was initially a fashion model with Wilhelmina Models before switching to acting. She appeared in television commercials (Nair, Underalls, etc.).

Dawber screen-tested for the title role in Tabitha, a situation comedy spun off from Bewitched, which went to Lisa Hartman instead. ABC-TV, however, was favorably enough impressed with her to enroll her in its "talent development" program, which paid its participants until they could find appropriate roles. It was from this program that Garry K. Marshall recruited her.

Dawber's professional breakthrough came when Marshall chose her, despite her having relatively little acting experience and not having auditioned for the part, as one of the two title characters of the ABC sitcom Mork & Mindy, which ran from 1978 to 1982. She portrayed Mindy McConnell, the comedic foil and eventual love interest for the extraterrestrial Mork from the planet Ork, played by a then-unknown Robin Williams. The show was extremely popular in its debut season, when it averaged at number three in the Nielsen ratings for the year.