Donald Horatio "Ducky" Mallard, D.H.L. (hon.) was a retired Doctor and also the former official Medical Examiner for the NCIS Major Case Response Team led by NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. He was the son of Victoria Mallard and Joseph Mallard, and the older half-brother of Nicholas Mallard.
In addition to performing autopsies on the victims, Ducky composed a psychological profile on any potential suspects or criminals that the team encounter, having graduated after taking a forensic psychology course.
In March 2019, Ducky retired from his position as NCIS's Chief Medical Examiner with his former Assistant, Dr. James Palmer succeeding him. Following his retirement, he assumed the newfound position of NCIS Historian.
Ducky died in his sleep in May 2023, at the beginning of "The Stories We Leave Behind".
Biography
Pre-Series
Born in Scotland to Victoria Mallard and Joseph Mallard, presumably on October 3[3], 1945[4], Ducky grew up in London.
His parents later divorced with Joseph remarrying a woman named Lorraine with that marriage producing a son, Nicholas Mallard who is Ducky's half-brother.
His nickname, “Ducky,” according to him, was “unfortunate one”, give by as a lad during the Blitz. He had childhood friends Maggie and Angus Clarke, which they called themselves the three musketeers.
After he was educated at Eton College, he attended King's College, Cambridge, where he started to study English Language and History, before leaving to go to medical school. He subsequently graduated from University of Edinburgh's Medical School around 1969.
After Ducky had received his degree as a doctor and decided to enlist in Royal Army, his friends organized a farewell for him. Even though he hated them, the young doctor was having quite some fun. That was until he suggested that Maggie come with him, and he confessed his love to her. When the two kissed, an enraged Angus reveals that he and Maggie were a couple, and Ducky didn't stand a chance. Ducky angrily hit Angus, knocked his teeth out, and left both Angus and Maggie behind.
After that Ducky also served as Lieutenant/Captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), a unit in the British Army. He also served in the military during the Vietnam War. He served in Bosnia during the Yugoslav Wars and in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion.
When his brother Nicholas was eight, his mother filed for divorce and took him to Albania in 1973. Both he and his father attempted to get custody of him with Angus' help, but failed. Donald tried to find him for many years, but was eventually told by a relative of his former stepmother that Nicholas and Lorraine had been killed in a car crash in Prague. He stopped searching after that.
Around 1979, he was seconded to an American tank regiment. In London, Ducky asked Angus to investigate his mother's fiancé, Baltazar Kilmeny, which revealed a long list of convictions. Ducky then used this to blackmail Kilmeany to leave his mother. Two weeks later, he was in the Officers Mess when notice went up asking for volunteers for a refugee camp in Afghanistan near the Pakistan borderland decided to volunteer. Ducky stated that he was an idealistic kid and wanted to go somewhere where he would do the most good. He informed his mother that he volunteered to serve at refugee camp, but when his tour's ended, he planned on immigrate to America with her.
In summer of 1980, Ducky worked in a refugee camp in Afghanistan and while there, he became acquainted with Polish born CIA interrogator, Marcin Jerek who was known locally as "Mr. Pain." As a result of this acquaintance Ducky was later mistakenly charged with war crimes for violating Article Four of the 1949 Geneva Conventions by the government of Afghanistan. Jerek tortured an innocent man who would then be sent to Ducky for medical care. Under stress, Ducky eventually made the decision to end the young man's suffering by giving him an overdose of morphine which apparently caused his death, a decision which would haunt Ducky for years.
After his time in Afghanistan, Ducky emigrated to the United States, rented/bought this house to live with his mother and eventually ended up having a car accident where he unintentionally saved an abducted Marine Sergeant Leroy Jethro Gibbs, whom he meets in NIS Headquarters due to the NIS investigating the crash due to the driver, Vito Zucudo of the Zucudo crime family, being involved in laundering money from the Navy and their discovering him in the trunk. It was from this event that they became friends and both spent 3 days drinking in various places, later he find out that Jethro he broke up with his girlfriend because he was scared for her that she would end up alone if he were to be killed in action on deployment. However, after that he and Gibbs ended up abducted by the head of the Zucudos, Pete, as well as his right hand man Francis in order to track down the laundered Navy money due to Vito leaving him out of the cut, and attempted to torture Gibbs, although Ducky, mostly because he didn't wish to see Gibbs tortured further or killed, divulged everything he knew about what had transpired. Later in the house, they suspected a mole within NCIS, he eventually deduced that the mole was in fact one of the carpenters working on the then-under renovation bullpen, "Freckles", and told Dr. Walter Magnus this much when meeting him under the pretense of a potential job interview.
Later his mother called him to demand limousine. And before Gibbs departure to California, Gibbs tried convince Ducky to join NCIS, that he can have another shot at Zucado and he can tell his stories to a "captive audience" (corpses). While Ducky tried convince Jethro to reconcile with Shannon, saying that which true love hard to find, it's needed to fight for because it may never come around again, and he did not want him to make the same mistakes as he did with Maggie. Later he said that hoped that they meet one day again, then Gibbs said that he got a feeling that they might. Unbeknownst to Ducky, Gibbs go back to Stillwater, he proposed to Shannon and later they had a daughter named Kelly. Later Ducky and his mother moved to the house in Reston.
It was presumably after this he joined NCIS in 1981[5]and started working in Headquarters. While there, he worked a series of cases under the guidance of the Medical Examiner, Dr. Magnus. Once Magnus retired in December 1992, Ducky became his successor.
In October of 1991, Ducky worked with a Special Agent Dawes on the murder case oft. Jane Doe, who found by a Navy corpsman out jogging in a culvert in Norfolk. Presumable Navy lieutenant had been raped and strangled and had a trident carved into her neck and the victim’s fingerprints were not identifiable as Navy. Then the profiler opined that the killer had dressed his victim in Navy uniform to fulfill some revenge fantasy and the working theory involved the killer having served under a female officer. Agent Dawes checked every Navy unit using a trident symbol and focusing on the units with female officers. When nothing came of it, the investigators, including Ducky, assumed the trident had nothing to do with the Navy. There’s also a note that showed up at the scene of the crime three days after the body was discovered: a trident symbol and the words, “I’ll be back.” Lt. Jane Doe is the only victim Ducky has never identified and the only family whose case has no closure and he keeps her ashes in a little gold box.
Around 1995 or earl, he reunited and started working with L.J. Gibbs, who already joined NIS/NCIS in 1991 and been transferred to the --Headquarters from Camp Pendleton Office (alongside with his mentor Mike Franks), and meet his second wife Diane. Later they become close friends.
In 1995, he worked with Gibbs on serial killer Kyle Boone's case, who killed 22 and more women. Ducky was worried about his friend, seeing how this case affecting him and obsessed he becomes, resulting in his marriage fell apart and his personality changed; prior to this case, Gibbs acted more like DiNozzo.
Later he meets Brent Langer, Stanley Burley and Jennifer Shepard, NCIS agents working under Gibbs' command. Once Ducky and Gibbs had to elude the police as fugitives until they escaped across the English Channel in a sailboat, which stolen by Jenny Shepard and she got the charges dropped.
Once a warrant being issued for his arrest after he shoved a French policeman off a cliff, but there was a lake below.
He meets Stephanie Flynn and introduced her to Gibbs, later they gets married. In 1999 (according to Ducky) or 1995 (according to Gibbs) he and Gibbs working on a case involving a servicemember buried up to his neck in an ant hill. During the case, his third ex-wife clocking Gibbs with a baseball bat and Ducky having to stitch Gibbs up. After thier divorce, according to Ducky, Stephanie doesn't talk to him or don't take his calls anymore.
Later he meet NCIS new forencis specialist Abigail Sciuto. In 2001, he meet Tony Dinozzo, former Balmore PD detective-turned-NCIS Special Agent, who by his behaviour reminded him young Gibbs.
JAG Season 8
Ducky at the crime scene. From the JAG Season 8/NCIS backdoor pilot episode, "Ice Queen".
Ducky made his debut appearance in the JAG Season 8/NCIS backdoor pilot episode, Ice Queen where he was first seen examining the body of a woman that had been found in a tree at Potomac Park.
NCIS Season 1
NCIS Season 2
NCIS Season 3
NCIS Season 4
NCIS Season 5
NCIS Season 6
NCIS Season 7
NCIS Season 8
NCIS Season 9
NCIS Season 10
In the premiere of the season he had suffered a heart attack after learning the news of the bombing of the NCIS building while he was attending Palmer's wedding. Although he was physically weakened from the ordeal, Ducky fortunately pulled through and recovered, leaving Palmer in charge of autopsy duties while he regained his strength.
NCIS Season 11
NCIS Season 12
NCIS Season 13
NCIS Season 14
NCIS: New Orleans Season 1
Ducky in the NCIS: New Orleans Season 1 premiere episode, "Musician Heal Thyself".
Ducky appeared in the NCIS: New Orleans Season 1 premiere episode, Musician Heal Thyself (episode) where Jefferson Parish Coroner Loretta Wade contacted him in regards to the death of a Navy Petty Officer Second Class whose right arm showed a tattoo that was rapidly fading over.
NCIS Season 13
NCIS: New Orleans Season 2
NCIS Season 14
NCIS Season 15
NCIS Season 16
The plaque on the door to Ducky's new office in his new position as NCIS Historian.
In March 2019, Ducky retired from his position as NCIS's Chief Medical Examiner with his former Assistant, Dr. James Palmer succeeding him. Following his retirement, he assumed the newfound position of NCIS Historian.
NCIS Season 17
NCIS Season 18
NCIS Season 19
NCIS Season 20
NCIS Season 21
Ducky died in his sleep at his home in May 2023.
Personality
He is both soft and sweet, but also direct and serious. He is described by Tony to be "An essential element of the investigative process". He is also described as having an encyclopedic mind that never stops working and that his mind is directly connected to his mouth, and he does tend to talk a lot and mention random facts. He is shown to have a lot of empathy and always treats the bodies in autopsy with respect regardless of who they were. Ducky is also a great friend to the rest of the team and cares greatly for them. He is also funny and has a tendency to be sarcastic.
However, he can be bold and aggressive when needed, even confronting aggressors or pranksters when needed; such as in Witch Hunt (episode) when Jimmy revealed Ducky chased down three teens who egged the NCIS van on route to a crime scene on Halloween and forced them to clean the mess.
Physical Appearance
Ducky is a man of medium height in his eighties with short brown/greying hair and blue eyes. He often is seen wearing scrubs and protective gear involved when performing an autopsy. His more casual clothing is fine but comfortable suits, dress shirts, suspenders, and his signature bowtie.
In his younger years, Ducky is shown to have been of a taller height with a slim build and short, thick blond hair, making him rather attractive. Around the time of the seventies when most of his younger flashbacks take place, he was often shown wearing long sleeved turtleneck sweaters, and bell bottom pants.
Abilities
As NCIS's Medical Examiner, Ducky is skilled at performing autopsies on the many victims that he examines with his findings often determining if the victim died of natural causes or if they were murdered. It is extremely rare for him to miss something or make a mistake but, in the event it does happen, he can quickly make up for this mishap and set things right.
Ducky also has a psychological degree, enabling him to perform and create psychological profiles to determine the mindset of the suspects that the NCIS team are currently after which has often come in handy when looking into an individual's past and present means of operation and motives.
Autopsies
Ducky's specialty is performing autopsies with his results often helping the NCIS team pursue other lines of investigation with Ducky himself often determining if the death of a United States Marine Corps or Navy officer was natural or murder.
Psychological Profiling
Having earned a Master's Degree in psychological profiling, Ducky is now capable of creating profiles in which will describe the suspect that the main NCIS team are searching for, which often aids the team to get inside the suspects heads, giving them leads.
Medical Training
Despite being a Medical Examiner, Ducky's medical skills as a doctor have often been a huge advantage to members of the NCIS team as he has often treated injuries that the NCIS team have often received in the field.
Relationships
Familial
Victoria Mallard
Victoria Mallard was Ducky's mother. She was mentioned in many episodes and present in a few. She lived a long life, and her years on the show was filled with illness. She seemed to have dementia or perhaps Alzheimer's. Ducky loved her very much. In season 7 in Double Identity (episode) it is revealed that she had died a little while back.
Joseph Mallard
Nicholas Mallard
Nicholas is Ducky's half-brother and about 20 years his junior (born in 1965). They share the same father, but Nicholas' mother is Joseph's second wife Lorraine Mallard.
The two brothers were very close despite the large age difference, Ducky becoming more of his guardian as neither parent was often around to care for him properly. However, Lorraine filed for divorce during Christmas in 1973 when Nicholas was eight and had announced she would take him to Albania with her. Not wanting to be apart from his brother, Ducky did everything he could to become Nicolas' guardian but, before it could be made official, his stepmother took Nicolas and left without notice. Ducky lost all contact with him after that and believed for decades that his brother and former stepmother had been killed in a car crash in Prague around 1980.
He became a U.S. citizen in 1987. Nicholas was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's, presumably while in his 40's, and when Ducky finally found him in 2015 he was living in a nursing home outside Philadelphia. (Spinning Wheel).
Other Relatives
In season 1's Hung Out to Dry he mentions that the last time he was high up on a ladder it was to hang a piñata for his nephew’s birthday party. He was mentioned again in season 9's Playing with Fire when Ducky had finished redrafting his last will and testament, and told Gibbs that he had given his nephew in Scotland several bequeaths.
In Call of Silence he mentions that he had a great-uncle William in Bristol, and an aunt Gertrude.
In Hiatus Part 1, while sitting beside Gibbs' hospital bed, he starts talking about how he and his mother visited her brother Carkin in the little town of Clagolaky. Apparently, Carkin worked at the cooperage where they made all the casks for the various distilleries.
In Season 13's Déjà Vu, Ducky mentions an uncle Duncan who gave him a warm and comfortable watch cap with ear flaps Duncan had worn to a mapping expedition to the Antarctic in 1933.
NCIS Colleagues
Leroy Jethro Gibbs: Gibbs is the only one who is allowed to call him "Duck". In return, Ducky is among the few people who call him "Jethro". They have a close and long-standing friendship with Ducky appearing to know the entire history and truth of Gibbs and what happened to his family and the man involved. Though Ducky has tried to help Gibbs overcome this never-ending pain, he has since accepted that Gibbs would not open up so easily and talk about the loss of his wife and daughter. As an agent, Ducky greatly admires and respects how Gibbs performs to make sure justice prevails and that all suspects involved are arrested with as little damage or harm to others as possible.
James "Jimmy" Palmer: Ducky's assistant and, later, fellow doctor. Having worked so many years together, the two formed a father and son bond to the point that in The Artful Dodger Ducky revealed that he has become a grandfather figure to Jimmy's daughter and that the younger doctor wishes for Victoria to call him Grand-Ducky when she starts talking.
During their many scenes together, Jimmy is often amazed at Ducky's knowledge while Ducky delights in passing the information to him but also pointing out when Jimmy does his habit of accidentally saying the wrong thing.
Anthony "Tony" DiNozzo: Like many others, Ducky was well aware of Tony's outgoing and somewhat womanizing ways. However, he saw past this and saw that Tony was really masking deep pain caused during moments in his past. Despite this, he knows that Tony is a very capable agent who is there for others when needed and has values and morales he greatly believes in.
Trivia
- When performing autopsies on murder victims, Ducky often talks to them and tells stories about his life.
- Both Ducky and his actor David McCallum is from Scotland and served in the military, although McCallum served in the British Army in real life while Ducky served in Royal Army Medical Corps.
- He rarely calls anyone by their nickname, calling Abby "Abigail", Ellie "Eleanor", and Kate "Caitlin.”
- He, Timothy McGee, Jimmy Palmer and Leroy Jethro Gibbs are the only main characters to have met every other main character in the mothership.
- The British Army's culture places heavy emphasis on the pride and traditions of its constituent regiments, featuring marches, nicknames, flags and emblems- all unique. Regimental nicknames are not shared, so the fact that Ducky was in a British Army unit nicknamed "The Regiment" strongly implies he passed selection for and served in the Special Air Service.
- In Meat Puzzle Kate Todd asks Gibbs what Ducky looked like when he was younger. Gibbs says "Illya Kuryakin". This is a reference to David McCallum's role as Illya Kuryakin in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. television series.
- Starting in Season 15, Ducky has appeared less in the series, with Season 17 having him only appear in 6 episodes and Season 18 having him only appear in 3.
- Starting with Season 19, David McCallum is billed as "with David McCallum", being credited before Rocky Carroll, opposed to the usual "and David McCallum" and being credited after Rocky.
- His nickname is Ducky because his last name, Mallard, is a kind of duck. It might also be a reference to the cartoon duck, Donald Duck.
- According to his mother, Ducky had blond, curly hair when he was a young boy which caused him to be mistaken for a girl, although it's unclear how accurate this is.
- David McCallum is the first NCIS main cast member to die. He passed away in September 2023, just a couple months before Season 21 would began filming.
- Ducky is the third character in the NCIS franchise, as well as the first main character in the flagship, to die due to an actor’s death. Jackson Gibbs, also from the flagship series, met that fate due to Ralph Waite dying in 2014, as was Owen Granger from NCIS LA due to his actor Miguel Ferrer’s death in 2017.
- Ironically, while Ducky outlived Kate by 18 years in canon, Kate’s actress Sasha Alexander outlived McCallum in real life.
Appearances
For a more detailed list, see Donald Mallard/List of Appearances.
| NCIS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | # | |
| Season 1 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 23 | ||
| Season 2 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 23 | ||
| Season 3 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 24 | |
| Season 4 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 24 | |
| Season 5 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 19 | ||||||
| Season 6 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | - | X | X | 24 |
| Season 7 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 24 | |
| Season 8 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 24 | |
| Season 9 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 24 | |
| Season 10 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 24 | |
| Season 11 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 24 | |
| Season 12 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 24 | |
| Season 13 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 24 | |
| Season 14 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 24 | |
| Season 15 | X | X | X | - | - | - | X | X | X | - | - | - | - | - | - | X | X | X | X | - | - | X | X | X | 13 | |
| Season 16 | X | X | - | X | - | - | X | X | X | - | - | - | - | - | - | X | X | X | - | - | X | X | X | X | 13 | |
| Season 17 | - | X | X | - | - | - | X | X | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | X | X | - | - | - | 6 | |||||
| Season 18 | - | X | - | - | - | - | X | - | - | - | - | - | - | X | - | - | 3 | |||||||||
| Season 19 | - | - | - | X | X | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | X | X | 4 | ||||
| Season 20 | - | - | X | X | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | X | X | 4 | |||
| Season 21 | - | X | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | |||||||||||||||
| Season 22 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0 | |||||
| Total | 373 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
- ↑ As of The Stories We Leave Behind.
- ↑ McCallum died in September 2023, resulting Ducky also dying.
- ↑ The team celebrated his birthday at the end of the episode Unearth. The episode aired on October third. Which would presumably place his birthday on the same date, or at least in early October.
- ↑ In Spinning Wheel revealed that his brother born in 1965 and he was 20 years younger that Ducky
- ↑ In "Faking It" he said has been an ME for 25 years, that episode aired on October 10, 2006, so presumably he joined in 1981