Before the credits rolled on “Docked,” NCIS aired a title card reading “in memory of our friend and colleague Harriet Margulies. We will miss you.”
Margulies, who died at the end of October at the age of 94, had worked on the show throughout its entire 19-year run. Previously, she had worked on classic shows like Kojak, Magnum PI, Airwolf and Quantum Leap, as well as the show NCIS span off from, JAG.
Who is Harriet Margulies?
For nearly two decades, she worked as the audience liaison on the show for its production company, Belisarius Productions.
This meant answering fan questions and information requests, organizing fan participation in conventions and organizing set visits for superfans. She also worked in the same role for previous Belisarius productions like JAG and Quantum Leap.
Beginning her career as a publicist, in the 1970s she worked as a production assistant for Universal Television. Among her other duties, she wrote an episode of Kojak in 1977, and did assistant camera work in Magnum, PI.
Margulies made two cameos appearances on NCIS. Her first appearance was in Season 2, Episode 9 (“Forced Entry”), where she was credited as “Attractive Older Woman”. Two years later, she cameoed as “Older Woman” in Season 4, Episode 2, “Escaped.” She had previously appeared in JAG Season 3.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, Margulies also appeared in an episode of CBS show Scene of the Crime, where she played an Elizabeth Taylor lookalike.
The NCIS staffer died on October 30 after a stroke at the age of 94.
NCIS fans took to Twitter to share their experience of the late fan liaison. One fan, for example, tweeted about a set visit where they met Margulies. “She loved all my Abby [Pauley Perrette’s former character on the show] clothes,” the fan tweeted, “and was the one who got the security guard at #NCIS to always call me ‘Mini Abby’ when he saw me. RIP Harriet. You will be missed.”
Writing on Facebook, another fan wrote, “NCIS had an in memoriam card at the end of tonight’s episode for Harriet Margulies. She was the fan liaison for all of the Bellisarius shows. She was a member of all of the Yahoogroups mailing lists, and made herself available to the fans for questions. She was so generous when it came to donations, and gave me many items for [charity] over the years. She was briefly in two NCIS episodes, too. It was such a shock to see that at the end of the episode.”
NCIS Season 19 airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. CT on CBS.