Ducky Mallard
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| NCIS character | |
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| Donald "Ducky" Mallard | |
|---|---|
| Rank | Doctor |
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | Gray/Brown |
| Actor | David McCallum |
| First appearance | Ice Queen (JAG) |
| Last appearance | Current Character |
Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard, M.D., M.E. is a fictional Chief Medical Examiner in the NCIS television series by CBS Television, portrayed by David McCallum. Ducky is the Scottish chief medical examiner, albeit with an English accent, who assists the team and has an eccentric habit of talking to the dead bodies upon which he performs autopsies.
The fact that a mallard is a type of duck most likely explains Ducky's nickname; the word 'Ducky', is also a term of endearment. Secondly, his first name is Donald which alludes to Donald Duck.
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[edit] Fictional Biography
He was educated at Eton and graduated from Edinburgh Medical School — he played cricket at both institutions.
He won The Scotsman newspaper Chess championship at age 16
Dr. Mallard worked for the British Police and many others before NCIS. He has many long and complicated stories about his long working experience and besides talking to dead bodies, his other idiosyncrasy is his tendency to ramble on about what he calls his "salad days" to anyone within earshot; in a Season One episode it is revealed that one of his assistants (Gerald) has taken to wearing earplugs or MP3 player earphones when working with Mallard.
Mallard lives with his 96-year-old mother, who suffers from dementia. As a baby, she left him on a ferry from the Orkneys to John O.Groats and was halfway to Thurso before she noticed. He never married and has no children; his only recorded date within seasons one and two ended with his date's arrest for manslaughter.
Ducky is very particular about crime scenes; he once pushed a French police officer off a cliff for disturbing a body before he could attend to it. Fortunately, the cliff wasn't too steep and the nearby lake broke the officer's fall.
Ducky has a long unspoken history of friendship with Special Agent Jethro Gibbs, and has stitched Gibbs up after violent attacks from ex-wives. He bonds well with the rest of the team, particularly forensics specialist Abby Sciuto. He was assisted by Gerald who was later shot in the shoulder by Ari to demonstrate the lengths he would go to in the episode Bete Noire; he is now assisted by Jimmy Palmer.
Ducky drives a vintage Morgan roadster that he restored himself.
Ducky's age is uncertain. In one Season Three episode he is shown wearing medals on his dinner jacket; however they all appear to be of World War II vintage. But in Season Four episode Blowback when the key suspect in a black market operation is accidentally killed, Ducky goes undercover after Director Shepard says "All we need is a 68 year old Englishman" (to replace the Englishman who died and has thus endangered an undercover operation. As regards nationality Ducky says just four episodes later, in "Iceman", "I'm from Scotland myself"). Certainly, the ring tone of his mobile phone plays "Scotland the Brave".
Ducky has referred in several episodes during Season Four to his status as an Officer in the British Armed Forces (possibly the Royal Marines - in the episode Twisted Sister he refers to when he was in "the Regiment"; this is usually used when talking about the Special Air Service Regiment). Due to his medical training, Ducky was most likely in the Medical Corps. He has alluded to a tour in Vietnam.
In the fourth season it is revealed that Ducky is taking a course in forensic psychology (a Masters degree according to DiNozzo) and graduates prior to the third episode of the season in which he is shown using his new knowledge to profile a missing woman. Gibbs' sudden resignation at the end of Season Three and subsequent reinstatement led to a marked cooling off of the friendship between the two men, however they finally reconciled their differences in the episode Smoked in which it was revealed that Ducky was upset due to Gibbs never telling him about his deceased first wife and daughter: Ducky thought that such important information would be shared between friends. Gibbs indicates the depth of the friendship, breaking his own rule against apologising, and straightforwardly says "I'm sorry Ducky. I should have told you." Ducky's response is "And I should have told you something a long time ago...welcome back." They hug and Gibbs whispers, "Thanks."
[edit] Preparation for the Role
According to the behind-the-scenes feature on the 2006 DVD of NCIS season 1, McCallum became an expert in forensics to play the Dr "Ducky" Mallard character, including appearing at Medical Examiner conventions. Bellisario says on it that McCallum's knowledge became so vast that Bellisario (at the time of the interview) was considering making him a technical advisor on the show.
McCallum appeared at the 21st Annual James Earl Ash Lecture, held May 19 2007 at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, was an evening for honoring America's service members. His lecture, "Reel to Real Forensics," was with Cmdr. Craig T. Mallak, U.S. Armed Forces medical examiner, and featured a presentation comparing the real-life work of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner staff with that of the fictional naval investigators appearing on "NCIS." [1]
[edit] References to The Man For UNCLE
David McCallum's earlier portrayal of the Russian agent Illya Kuryakin in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was brought up in a Season Two episode between two of the other characters:
Kate: "Gibbs? What did Ducky look like when he was younger?"
Gibbs: "Illya Kuryakin."
Similarly, in a Season One episode Abby is shown creating a computer-generated reconstruction of what Mallard might have looked like when he was younger; the image created was based upon a publicity photograph of McCallum from Man from U.N.C.L.E.
[edit] References to real life
In the episode The Meat Puzzle a photograph of the actor and his real-life father, David McCallum, Sr. is seen in Ducky's family home.
[edit] References
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