'ER' Stars George Clooney and Julianna Margulies Reunite 2 Decades Later

By Stephen Andrew

ER stars George Clooney and Julianna Margulies recently reunited in person, two decades after they played one of America's favorite on-screen TV couples. Clooney and Margulies were photographed together on Wednesday while they attended a screening of Clooney's new film, The Tender Bar. The pair are well known for their portrayal of the fictional medical couple Dr. Doug Ross (Clooney) and Nurse Carol Hathaway (Margulies) on ER.

This is not Clooney and Margulies' first reunion this year, as they both appeared in a virtual ER reunion back in April. During the online reminiscing, the cast of the iconic series reflected on a number of big moments, included when Clooney's famous aunt, Rosemary Clooney, made a guest appearance. In 1995, Rosemary played an Alzheimer's patient who could only communicate by singing. The late Hollywood icon was even nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for her performance in the emotional episode. A clip from the episode was played, showing Rosemary's character singing as she is comforted by Noah Wyle's Dr. John Carter, and it overwhelmed the cast.

"Oh my God, I have to get a tissue," said Margulies. "That was intense," added Gloria Reuben, who appeared in ER as physician assistant Jeanie Boulet. Clooney also was overcome with emotion, saying "I miss her. She was the fun one in my family." Sadly, Rosemary died in 2002 after a battle with lung cancer. 

Wyle then took some time to reminisce about what it was like for him to work with her, noting that among the many legends he had the privilege of acting opposite, she stood out. "I had the great benefit getting sort of all the older patients, so I got Sanford Meisner, I got Red Buttons and I got Eli Wallach and I got Mickey Rooney, so I had an unbelievable embarrassment of riches with the people I got to work with," Wyle said. "But Rosemary was one of the earliest sort of heavy hitter guest stars that we had on the show, and I thought she was just amazing."

"It's very hard to play less intelligent than you are or more confused than you are, and she had a really interesting quality," he went on to say. "And then when she began to sing, the expectation is that she would fall into her old sort of performance rhythm, but she didn't, she found a sort of vocal quality that seemed much more pedestrian and less polished than a professional would be, which made it all the more heartbreaking." In response to Wyle's anecdote, Clooney joked, "Noah was the nephew she always wanted."

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