George Clooney says his ER character got away with being a womaniser because he saved children

Excerpt taken from his recent interviews:

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George Clooney says his ER character got away with being a womaniser because he saved children

Actor’s character was loved despite often showcasing toxic behaviour

Jacob Stolworthy@Jacob_Stol


Before George Clooney was a Hollywood star, he was Dr Doug Ross in ER.

The actor appeared as the pediatrician in the medical drama’s first five seasons from 1995 to 1999.
While ultimately coming good in the end, his character was depicted as a womaniser whose behaviour often took on a toxic light, especially when viewed decades later.

Despite this, Ross remains one of the show's best loved characters alongside Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards), John Carter (Noah Wyle) and Julianna Margulies (Carol Hathaway).

Clooney thinks he knows why this is, and in a new interview with Deadline, reflected upon his time on the show.


"I was a womaniser on the show and I was a drunk," he said, adding: “But, as long as at the end of every episode I’d be like ‘Don’t touch that kid,’ then I could get away with anything."


He said this knowledge of his time on ER helped when directing and starring in his new film, the Netflix drama The Midnight Sky.

In the film, Clooney plays a scientist named Augustine who is all alone in the Arctic on a depopulated Earth. However, he soon finds that he has a young girl for company named Iris (the eight year old newcomer Caoilinn Springall).

"I knew it gave me an opening as an actor to not have to try and make this guy necessarily likeable," he said. "That all I had to do was try to protect the girl and then everything else you could be as unhappy or as angry. He doesn’t smile at all or anything."

The Midnight Sky will be released on Netflix on 3 December. ER is available to binge on All 4.

How times change: when ER was made, being a womaniser and a drunk weren't considered toxic behaviour as such.  Just a part of being a normal, flawed human.

Does anybody remember that in - I think zhe very first episode - this very young nurse, probably trainee - asks Doug Ross if he has kids and he says yes. When asked if it's a boy or a girl, he says that hd has no idea. She's quite shocked.
It's never mentioned again. (Or was it just in the German translation? But I actually can't imagine bringing in a spin which is not in the original version.)

I think it's this actress sho some years ago talked about racism on set of ER and that George didn't stsnd up for her. Later on she was shot by the police...