George Clooney and Julianna Margulies still refer to each other using their characters’ names from hit medical drama ‘ER’ 15 years after the show went off-air.
George Clooney and Julianna Margulies still refer to each other using their characters’ names from hit medical drama ‘ER’.
Clooney played hunky doctor Doug Ross on the NBC medical drama between 1994 and 1999 while Margulies played his love interest nurse Carol Hathaway from 1994 until 2000 and now ‘The Good Wife’ star has revealed the pair still go by the names Carol and Doug when they correspond via email.
In an interview with the Television Academy marking the show’s 30th anniversary on Monday, Marguiles, 58, explained: “It always had to be Carol and Doug, in the end. George and I, to this day, still sign our personal emails to each other ‘Love, Carol’ or ‘Doug’.”
Margulies went on to talk about the pair’s reunion in a 2000 episode for season six when Clooney’s character made a surprise return to mark Carol’s exit and reveals showrunner John Wells shrouded it in secrecy so they needed to sneak about on set.
She explained: “John said: ‘Look, we have the right ending for Carol. But we can’t tell anyone. Because if it gets out, it won’t be a surprise. So here’s what we’re going to do’ … Then, John and I had a meeting. And John said, ‘We’re going to fly the two of you out [to Seattle] separately. A car will pick you up’.”
They shot the scene with a skeleton crew and Margulies had to do her own hair and make-up.
She added: “I think it was only our DP, our cameraman, John Wells, me and George … The owners [of the house used for the scene] had to sign a nondisclosure [agreement], and I got in their bathroom to do my own make-up and hair.
“I had taken only the clothes for the character that were left in my trailer, and we shot the scene.”
Clooney has previously revealed he remains close friends with his ‘ER’ co-stars over the years.
During an appearance on ‘The Drew Barrymore Show’ in 2022, he said: “I guess it was the friendship I have with all of them and that I continue to have.
“I had [Anthony] Tony Edwards at the house in Italy three weeks ago – he and Mare came .. [I’m also] really close with [Margulies and Noah Wyle].
“They’re really good friends. And so I feel that [show] was a job of a lifetime. And it changed my career.”
George Clooney and Julianna Margulies still use ER names
