From the moment it premiered in 1994, ER had ‘hit’ written all over it. Which had everything to do with George Clooney (pictured below right).
The writers knew they were on to something when they made Clooney’s Dr Doug Ross a kiddie specialist. Caring, compassionate, handsome and likes kids – How could it miss?
Set in the emergency room (“ER”) of Chicago’s Cook County General Hospital, the series was created by best-selling author Michael Crichton, who had a medical school degree.
Sandwiched in between the dramatic hospital rescue scenes were personal stories about the loves and private lives of the staff at the hospital.
Apart from Dr Ross, key cast members included Dr Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards), a chief resident who had serious personal problems at home with a demanding lawyer wife; Dr Peter Benton (Eriq LaSalle), a demanding African-American physician with a serious identity problem; Dr John Carter (Noah Wyle), a sometimes inept last-year young resident; head nurse Carol Hathaway (Julianna Margulies), a troubled woman with a serious drug problem; and Dr David Morgenstern (William H Macy), the cranky head of the ER unit.
In 1998, Kellie Martin joined the cast as the wide-eyed medical student Lucy Knight, who worked for Nurse Hathaway when she opened a clinic.
Dr Mark Greene was diagnosed with brain cancer and was treated with chemotherapy. His condition worsened and he eventually succumbed to the disease at the age of 38.
Doug Ross eventually resigned in the aftermath of a scandal in which he showed a mother how to bypass the lockouts on a hydro morphine medication dispenser, enabling her to give a lethal dose of medication to her terminally ill son, to stop his heart.
Dr Douglas Ross
George Clooney Dr Mark Greene
Anthony Edwards Dr Susan Lewis
Sherry Stringfield Dr Peter Benton
Eriq LaSalle Dr John Truman Carter III
Noah Wyle Nurse Carol Hathaway
Julianna Margulies Dr David Morgenstern
William H Macy Dr Abigail ‘Abby’ Lockhart
Maura Tierney Dr Luka Kovac
Goran Visnjic Dr Elizabeth Corday
Alex Kingston Dr Kerry Weaver
Laura Innes Lucy Knight
Kellie Martin
