‘ER’ Ended 15 Years Ago: 10 Big-Name Guest Stars From the Medical Drama
Everyone remembers the famous actors who starred on the medical drama ER: George Clooney, Julianna Margulies, Noah Wyle, and Ming-Na Wen are just a few. John Stamos and Angela Bassett even played County General docs in later seasons.
But the NBC series — which ended 15 years ago on April 2 — also featured household names as guest stars. Here are just 10, all of whom earned Emmy nominations for their ER work.
Alan Alda
This M*A*S*H alum recurred in Season 6, playing Dr. Gabriel Lawrence, a senior attending physician beginning to show signs of Alzheimer’s disease.
Don Cheadle
Before becoming a Marvel Cinematic Universe mainstay, Cheadle recurred in ER’s ninth season, playing Paul Nathan, a med student living with Parkinson’s disease.
Rosemary Clooney
George Clooney apparently said “Come On-a My House” to his famous aunt Rosemary: She recurred in Season 1 as Mary Cavanaugh, a singing Alzheimer’s patient.
Sally Field
This Steel Magnolias star got two Emmy nominations and one win for her performance as Abby’s (Maura Tierney) mother, Maggie Wyczenski, a role she played in 11 episodes of the series.
Swoosie Kurtz
Prior to her roles in Mike & Molly and Call Me Kat, Kurtz guest-starred in Season 4’s “Suffer the Little Children,” playing ailing televangelist Tina Marie Chambliss.
Ray Liotta
This late Goodfellas actor won an Emmy for guest-starring as alcoholic ex-con patient Charlie Metcalfe in Season 11’s real-time episode “Time of Death.”
William H. Macy
Macy, who later led the Shameless cast, played Dr. David Morgenstern, the hospital’s chief of surgery, in 30 episodes across the first four ER seasons.
Ewan McGregor
Before playing Obi-Wan Kenobi, McGregor played robber Duncan Stewart in Season 3’s “The Long Way Around” (which, coincidentally, almost matches the title of one of McGregor’s road-trip docuseries).
Bob Newhart
The namesake of both The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart had a three-episode arc as Ben Hollander, an architect with degenerating eyesight, in Season 10.
Stanley Tucci
Tucci, who recently starred in Inside Man and Citadel on TV, recurred as Dr. Kevin Moretti, an abrasive, new emergency room chief, across Seasons 13 and 14.
