Where Are They Now
HOT GALLERY: Looking Back at the Stars of St. Elsewhere, Some of the Most Beloved Doctors in TV History
Before ER, before Grey’s Anatomy, before House and Nurse Jackie, came St. Elsewhere, an irreverent, hilarious, controversial series that broke a lot of ground. Over its six seasons, it addressed AIDS, addiction, infidelity, rape—not to mention the deaths of several main characters. Thirty-two years later, it’s clear that one of the most astonishing things about it was its ensemble cast (the show gave some very talented actors their big break). Oh, and we’d be remiss not to mention that memorable—and hummable—theme song. Just don’t even get us started on the series finale—to this day, one of the most talked-about and oft-maligned in TV history: Was St. Eligius hospital all a figment of an autistic boy’s (Chad Allen) imagination? Let’s look back at St. Elsewhere... By Nina Hämmerling Smith
Frank Carroll/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank, MILAN RYBA/GLOBE PHOTOS
David Birney as Dr. Ben Samuels on St. Elsewhere in 1982 and David Birney in 2004
Birney played the lead character in the TV series Serpico and made guest appearances on series like The Twilight Zone, Without a Trace, and Murder, She Wrote. A prolific stage actor, he has performed in numerous Shakespeare productions (Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice, The Tempest, As You Like It). Before St. Elsewhere, he starred with Meredith Baxter (who would go on to play the mother in Family Ties) in Bridget Loves Bernie; the two were married for 16 years, then endured a bitter and prolonged divorce. (Here is Birney’s response to the accusations in his ex-wife’s memoir.)
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