By KEN BECK

Dear Ken: Give us some background on Mark Harmon. Wasn’t he a West Coast university quarterback before he became an actor? 

Harmon, 59, who plays Jethro Gibbs on “NCIS,” is the son of Tom Harmon, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1940, and his mother is Elyse Knox, a movie star of the 1940s. He was the starting quarterback for UCLA in 1972 and 1973. He is married to actress Pam Dawber of “Mork and Mindy” fame, and they have two sons. His sister, Kristin Harmon, was the ex-wife of the late singer Ricky Nelson. Before he became a star, Harmon worked as a carpenter.   

Dear Ken: Christina Hendricks, who plays curvaceous Joan on “Mad Men,” where is she from? What else might I have see her in on TV?

Hendricks, 35, was born in Knoxville, but moved to Twin Falls, Idaho, with her family when she was 3. She lived in Fairfax, Va., during her high school years and performed in high school plays and modeled. She played Kelly Kramer in the TV series “Beggars and Choosers,” was Joyce Westlake in four episodes of “ER” and was Saffron in a couple of episodes of “Firefly.” The blonde, who dies her hair red, has completed work on two new films, “Life as We Know It” and “Leonie.”  

Dear Ken: What has happened to blind country singer Terri Gibbs, who had some hits in the early 1980s?

Gibbs, 56, grew up in Augusta, Ga., in a family with a rich gospel music heritage and began playing the piano at 3. She had a huge hit in 1980 with “Somebody’s Knockin’,” which is available on her “Best of Terri Gibbs” album. Widowed since the death of her husband two-and-a-half years ago, she has a 20-year-old son, and lives in her hometown where she continues to share her gospel music. She has been working on a new album as well an autobiography.

Dear Ken: How many actors have provided the voice for Scooby-Doo over the years?
Five humans have spoken for the cartoon dog. Don Messick was the original voice of the Great Dane, born Scoobert Doo on the Knittingham Puppy Farm. Following the master voice man were Hadley Kay, Scott Innes and Frank Welker (who also does the voice of Fred). Neil Fanning furnished the voice of the computer-generated Scooby in the two Warner Bros. live-action feature films.

If you have a trivia question about actors, singers, movies, TV shows or pop culture, e-mail your query to Ken Beck at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it