George Clooney Had the Nicest Thing to Say About His “ER” Costars

Updated: Jan. 05, 2023

George Clooney may be one of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood, but he still has big love for his ER co-stars.

George Clooney has been a working actor since the 1980s, but he shot to A-list stardom in 1994 when he starred as Dr. Doug Ross on the medical drama ER, the show that set the bar for doctor shows on television. In fact, George Clooney in ER might just might have marked the beginning of prestige television as we know it, and it’s often considered one of the best TV shows of all time.

Clooney, who is now starring in the film Ticket To Paradise with Julia Roberts, departed ER nearly 25 years ago, but he has nothing but fond memories of his time there. “That [show] was a job of a lifetime. And it changed my career,” Clooney told Drew Barrymore in an interview on The Drew Barrymore Show.

How Long Was George Clooney on ER?

Prior to taking the job on ER, Clooney was a regular on sitcoms like The Facts of Life and Roseanne, as well as on TV dramas like Bodies of Evidence and Sisters. But ER, the NBC series created by author Michael Crichton, became an immediate sensation when it premiered in 1994 with a cast that also included Julianna Margulies, Anthony Edwards, Eriq La Salle, and Noah Wyle. Clooney went from being a working TV actor to one of Hollywood’s biggest names in the five years he spent on the series; he departed the show in 1999.

Clooney did come back for some memorable guest appearances in later seasons, too. If you missed them, the series is one of many great TV shows on Hulu, and you can watch all fifteen seasons there. If you’ve already binged it, these addictive hospital shows on Netflix will fill the void.

While still on ER, Clooney started appearing in films like From Dusk Till Dawn and One Fine Day, and after he closed out his time there, he went on to build an even more impressive resume, working with the Coen brothers in O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and with Stephen Soderbergh in Oceans Eleven and its sequels.

Oceans Eleven marked the first time he worked with Julia Roberts, arguably the other biggest Hollywood star of that era. The pair reunited for their new film Ticket To Paradise, a romantic comedy out in theaters and on video on demand now.

Here’s What George Clooney Had To Say About His ER Co-Stars

During the Ticket To Paradise press tour, Clooney taped an appearance for Barrymore’s talk show, where he went into detail about the best things that came out of his time on ER, telling the host that he’s still incredibly close friends with his former co-stars. “I guess it was the friendship I have with all of them and that I continue to have,” he said, “I had Tony Edwards at the house in Italy three weeks ago—he and Mare [Winningham] came.”

“I’m still really close with Julianna and Noah and Eriq,” he added. “They’re really good friends, and so I feel that was a job of a lifetime.”

Barrymore, like the rest of us, was thrilled to hear it. “That makes people so happy to know,” she said. “Because it’s like we all want to believe that, and when you find out it’s true, you’re like, oh, I thought so!”