Lily Tomlin skyrocketed to fame in the late 1960s thanks to hippy, trippy TV comedy "Laugh In," which led her to movies (including Robert Altman's Oscar-winning "Nashville," and the classic "9 to 5"), Broadway (her Tony-winning one-woman show "The Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe"), and numerous television roles. Among the latter was a 2011 guest-starring appearance in "NCIS," in an episode titled "The Penelope Papers."
Tomlin played the titular character, Penelope Langston. Grandmother of Timothy McGee (Sean Murray), she wound up embroiled in a case involving a murdered Naval officer. "Penelope is sharp as a tack and we're about to learn some things about McGee's family that have never been revealed," teased "NCIS" showrunner Gary Glasberg of her character, as reported by Entertainment Weekly. "She's a scientist, and she's very sharp," Tomlin said of Penelope during a panel at the Television Critics Association press tour, as reported by TV Line. "She was an admiral's wife for many decades, and she's the mother of McGee's father ... It was a really good part, and I was really delighted to get it."
One thing about her "NCIS" character that particularly appealed to her, Tomlin told Deadline, was that it dovetailed nicely with other roles she'd been embracing that broke the stereotypical mold of how older women are generally portrayed in film and television. "The young guy on 'NCIS,' I played his grandmother, and she was a very strong, capable, productive person," Tomlin explained.
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