David McCallum on ‘NCIS’: A Look Back at Ducky’s 5 Most Memorable Cases

When Mark Harmon first met David McCallum in 2003 while filming the backdoor pilot for NCIS (which aired on JAG), he gushed, “I can’t imagine I’m shaking the hand of Illya Kuryakin.” To which McCallum replied, “Good God, man, that was 40 years ago!” Such is the aura of a true TV legend, even one as charming and unassuming as McCallum, who died September 25, 2023 at a Manhattan hospital six days after turning 90.

Trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, the Scottish-born son of a violinist for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra first tasted international fame when cast as Kuryakin, the enigmatic Russian spy in NBC’s The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (1964–68), which earned him two Emmy nominations. As the taciturn Illya, who initially had just a few lines in the pilot, he broke out by cutting a dashing if elusive figure in his trademark black turtleneck, crowned with a blond Beatles moptop. Fans mobbed him wherever he appeared, with hundreds of teens at an Illinois airport waving placards reading “Flush THRUSH” (U.N.C.L.E.’s nemesis) and “All the Way With Illya K.”

In 1965, McCallum confessed to TV Guide Magazine, “With my Calvinist background and my deep Presbyterian blood, with my stiff Scottish spine, to be told you’re suddenly a ‘sex symbol’ — it’s just disquieting.”

But what could be more satisfying than reaching an even wider audience in one’s seventies? That’s what happened when he assumed the more loquacious, instantly endearing role of medical examiner Donald “Ducky” Mallard in the global hit NCIS.

If Harmon’s commanding Leroy Jethro Gibbs was the team’s father figure, Ducky was the “wise uncle,” he mused on the occasion of the show’s 400th episode in 2020. When actor Adam Campbell, playing a young Ducky, asked McCallum for a word to describe the character, he replied, “Enthusiasm — about everything. He’s positive and likes to solve problems, which is why he’s a pathologist.” McCallum’s enthusiasm for playing Ducky led him to study pathology and observe autopsies, bringing authenticity to the set. “He’s the role model,” Harmon said of his costar in 2010. “No one prepares harder; no one spends more time on his character.”

His most constant scene partner, Brian Dietzen as protégé (now Chief Medical Examiner) Jimmy Palmer, remembered him as “a joy to work with.… Always had something new to add to the page, and ALWAYS had the ability to steal every scene he was in!”

Though his presence was reduced in recent seasons, with Ducky working part time as NCIS historian, McCallum remained a part of the NCIS family to the end, and he’ll be an essential part of its history forever.

Below, take a look back at some of McCallum’s most memorable cases as Ducky on NCIS, and let us know your favorites in the comments section.

This is an excerpt from TV Guide Magazine’s NCIS: Special Collector’s Edition issue. For more inside scoop on the long-running CBS franchise, pick up a copy of the issue available on newsstands and for order online at NCISMagazine.com.