What happened to the cast of “St. Elsewhere”? See the stars nearly 40 years after that controversial finale
What happened to the cast of “St. Elsewhere”? See the stars nearly 40 years after that controversial finale
Maggie FremontWed, June 17, 2026 at 10:00 PM UTC
0
The unusually stacked cast of 'St. Elsewhere,' circa 1985Credit: Getty
It may not have been a ratings behemoth, but St. Elsewhere has stood the test of time. Decades after its six-season run came to an end, it remains one of the most influential and enduring dramas, medical or otherwise, in TV history.
The series, created by Joshua Brand and John Falsey, followed the doctors and nurses of the rundown Boston hospital St. Eligius. Much like its contemporary Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere earned acclaim for its gritty aesthetic, ensemble cast, playfulness within the medium, and fearlessness in taking on controversial subject matter.
The series earned 62 Emmy nominations and 13 wins while on the air and, despite its controversial ending, the show's impact can still be felt in the bones of every medical drama that's come since.
Below, Entertainment Weekly revisits some of St. Elsewhere's most memorable characters and notable cast members.
01 of 10
William Daniels (Dr. Mark Craig)
William Daniels as Dr. Craig / Daniels in 2017Credit: Getty(2)
Arrogant and constantly annoyed, Dr. Craig was a brilliant cardio surgeon and never let anyone forget it. Still, you couldn't help wanting to spend more time with the guy. It's this kind of complexity that led William Daniels to five Emmy nominations and two wins.
Daniels' success on St. Elsewhere came after a distinguished Broadway career, which included an acclaimed portrayal of John Adams in 1776 that he reprised for the 1972 film adaptation. He worked steadily on the big screen in those years as well. He played Dustin Hoffman's father in the classic The Graduate (1967) and appeared in such films as The Parallax View (1974), Oh, God! (1977), and Reds (1981).
But it was St. Elsewhere that made him a familiar face in American homes. Ever the multitasker, Daniels was saving lives at St. Eligius while also providing the voice of KITT, the AI-powered car on Knight Rider.
Of course, the New York native endeared himself to an entirely new generation as George Feeny — Mr. Feeny, that is, the stern but kind teacher and next-door neighbor to young Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) on Boy Meets World.
Daniels and his fellow Emmy-winning St. Elsewhere costar Bonnie Bartlett have been married since 1951.
02 of 10
Ed Begley Jr. (Dr. Victor Ehrlich)
Ed Begley Jr. as Dr. Ehrlich / Begley at the premiere of 'The Boroughs' in 2026Credit: Getty(2)
Never one to pass up a chance to wear a Hawaiian shirt, Dr. Ehrlich was a promising, albeit bumbling, surgeon. Ed Begley Jr., son of legendary character actor and Oscar winner Ed Begley, saw his career launch to a new level with St. Elsewhere.
"When you have a part like that for six years, you've got an incredible gift, and you're wise to recognize it as such: You won the lottery," he told EW in 2012.
After six years as Dr. Ehrlich — a role that earned him six Emmy nominations — Begley has worked pretty much nonstop, including as a mainstay in Christopher Guest's ensemble for films like Best in Show (2000) and A Mighty Wind (2003).
He's been in high demand as a guest player across television, from his role as the Bluths' kindly nemesis Stan Sitwell on Arrested Development to recurring roles on Six Feet Under, Better Call Saul, and Young Sheldon. He recently showed up on the Netflix sci-fi series The Boroughs.
The veteran actor is a noted environmental activist and served on the Academy's Board of Governors from 2000 until 2016.
He has a son and daughter with his first wife, Ingrid Taylor, and shares a daughter with wife Rachelle Carson, whom he married in 2000. Begley was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2016.
03 of 10
Denzel Washington (Dr. Philip Chandler)
Denzel Washington as Dr. Chandler / Washington at a Lakers game in 2026Credit: Getty(2)
It's wild to go back and watch a young Denzel Washington in the St. Elsewhere ensemble as the buttoned-up, hyper-focused Dr. Chandler, knowing he would go on to have such a storied career.
Just one year after St. Elsewhere ended in 1988, Washington appeared in Glory (1989), which earned him the first of his two Academy Awards. Two years after his first collaboration with Spike Lee in Mo' Better Blues (1990), he delivered an all-timer of a performance in the director's masterful Malcolm X (1992), earning his third Oscar nomination.
In addition to the Oscar-winning Philadelphia (1993), he went on to headline hit thrillers like The Pelican Brief (1993), Shakespearean comedies like Much Ado About Nothing (1993), and military potboilers like Crimson Tide (1995) and Courage Under Fire (1996).
On the heels of a run that included Devil in a Blue Dress (1996), He Got Game (1998), and Remember the Titans (2000), Washington won his second Academy Award — this time for his ruthless heel turn in Training Day (2001).
A Broadway star as well, he won a Tony in 2010 for starring opposite Viola Davis in a revival of August Wilson's Fences. Both actors reprised their roles in the 2016 film adaptation, which Washington directed.
He recently earned acclaim for the Broadway revival of Othello and teamed up once more with Lee for the crime drama Highest 2 Lowest (2025). He also has Ryan Coogler's Black Panther 3 in his sights.
Washington has four children with his wife of 43 years, Pauletta Pearson. In 2025, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
04 of 10
David Morse (Dr. Jack "Boomer" Morrison)
David Morse as Dr. Morrison / Morse in New York City in 2025Credit: Getty(2)
David Morse's big break came in the form of the compassionate-to-a-fault Jack Morrison. Since that time, he's become one of the most reliable character actors in the business.
He starred in Sean Penn's early directorial efforts, The Indian Runner (1991) and The Crossing Guard (1995), and had a crucial role alongside Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys (1995). He also appeared in The Rock (1996) and Contact (1997) before delivering more of that Morrison-like compassion in The Green Mile (1999).
After starring on the crime drama Hack with the late Andre Braugher, Morse found his way back to the hospital — this time as a detective — during an Emmy-nominated guest arc on House. He earned a second Emmy nomination in 2008 for his performance as George Washington in the Paul Giamatti-led John Adams miniseries.
He was a regular on Treme and Outsiders and one of the key supporting figures in the true-crime miniseries Escape at Dannemora.
Morse has also enjoyed a successful stage career, starring to great acclaim on Broadway in Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize-winning How I Learned to Drive, as well as The Seafarer and The Iceman Cometh.
He and his wife, Susan Wheeler Duff, have been married since 1982 and have three kids.
05 of 10
Ed Flanders (Dr. Donald Westphall)
Ed Flanders as Dr. Westphall / Flanders at the Emmys in 1984Credit: Getty(2)
Ed Flanders' Dr. Westphall is an integral part of St. Elsewhere. Yes, partly because he's the hospital's director, and partly because who could forget the sweet moonshot he gives when he resigns in season 6?
Advertisement
But perhaps most of all, it's because he and his son Tommy delivered one of the most memorable final scenes in television history.
Flanders' performance earned him five Emmy nominations and one win. The Minneapolis native was also lauded for his stage career, having won a Tony in 1974 for Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten (also the title of the episode in which Dr. Westphall drops trou, by the way).
Following St. Elsewhere, Flanders' filmography was sparse. In 1995, he died by suicide at the age of 60.
06 of 10
Howie Mandel (Dr. Wayne Fiscus)
Howie Mandel as Dr. Fiscus / Mandel at the premiere of 'Michael' in 2026Credit: Getty(2)
Howie Mandel provided St. Elsewhere with comic relief as ER resident Dr. Fiscus — though he did mature over its six seasons. Near-death experiences will do that to you!
The Toronto native began his career in stand-up comedy. By 1979, he was opening for David Letterman and appearing in comedy game shows (a precursor of what was to come). In 1982, he was cast in St. Elsewhere, where he became a household name.
Around the same time, he began his voiceover career as Gizmo in the first two Gremlins movies. In 1990, Mandel created and performed in the children's animated series Bobby's World, which ran for seven seasons and collected a handful of Daytime Emmy nominations.
These days, he's best known as a host of Deal or No Deal and a judge on America's Got Talent.
The Canadian comic has been married to his wife, Terry Mandel, since 1980. They share three children.
07 of 10
Christina Pickles (Nurse Helen Rosenthal)
Christina Pickles as Nurse Rosenthal / Pickles at a Pre-Emmy party in 2018Credit: Getty(2)
In the chaos that could arrive at St. Eligius' doorstep, Nurse Rosenthal was always the one to keep order. But Christina Pickles's performance isn't only remembered for keeping the doctors in line, but also for tackling intense storylines, including one of television's first portrayals of a woman dealing with breast cancer and undergoing a mastectomy. The actress was nominated for five Emmys for her performance.
"That was the joy of working on St. Elsewhere," Pickles told EW in 2012. "They were very real with our storylines. They didn't gloss anything up."
Her acting career began on the Broadway stage in the 1960s and 1970s before she moved to soap operas, namely Another World.
Following St. Elsewhere, she booked regular guest work on TV as well as appearances in such '90s touchstones as Legends of the Fall (1994), Romeo + Juliet (1996), and The Wedding Singer (1998).
While she has appeared in dozens of TV shows over the years, her most famous role outside of Nurse Helen is no doubt Judy Geller, Ross and Monica's mother, on Friends.
The English actress has been married to Ian Masters since 2005. She also has two children with her first husband.
08 of 10
Mark Harmon (Dr. Robert Caldwell)
Mark Harmon as Dr. Caldwell / Harmon in Pasadena in 2024Credit: Getty(2)
Much like Christina Pickles, Mark Harmon's Dr. Caldwell is remembered for a boundary-pushing storyline. In this case, Caldwell was one of the first television characters to be diagnosed with HIV.
Harmon's three-season stint on the medical drama launched the former college football star into a new tier of Hollywood stardom. (In 1986, the same year he left St. Elsewhere, he was namedPEOPLE's Sexiest Man Alive.)
He filled much of the late '80s and early '90s with movies like Summer School (1987), The Presidio (1988), and Wyatt Earp (1994). By 1996, he found himself on another ensemble medical drama, Chicago Hope.
In 2002, Harmon had a memorable arc as a Secret Service agent on The West Wing, which in turn helped him land the lead role on the crime procedural NCIS, which became a juggernaut franchise. He anchored NCIS through its 19th season.
Harmon and his wife, actress Pam Dawber, have two children. They have been married since 1987.
09 of 10
Norman Lloyd (Dr. Daniel Auschlander)
Norman Lloyd as Dr. Auschlander / Lloyd at the TCM Classic Film Festival in 2019Credit: Getty(2)
For a certain audience, Norman Lloyd will always be St. Elsewhere's kind Dr. Auschlander, a role he played for the entirety of the series.
Born in 1914, Lloyd would live to 106 — and worked in Hollywood for nearly as long. He began working in 1923 and his career spanned radio, film, theater, and TV. As an actor, he took roles in films like Charlie Chaplin's Limelight (1952) and worked on various Alfred Hitchcock films, including Saboteur (1942) and Spellbound (1945).
In later years, he was the easy-to-hate Mr. Nolan in Dead Poets Society (1989) and had small parts in Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence (1993) and the Amy Schumer-led Trainwreck (2015), his final film role.
The New Jersey native was also a prolific director and producer in both theater and television.
Lloyd married actress and director Peggy Craven in 1936 and the two remained married for 75 years until her death in 2011. They had two children together. Lloyd died in 2021.
10 of 10
Eric Laneuville (Luther Hawkins)
Eric Laneuville as Luther Hawkins / Laneuville directing an episode of 'Mistresses' in 2012Credit: Getty(2)
Eric Laneuville's Luther, a fixture on St. Elsewhere for all six seasons, kicked off the series as an orderly. By series' end, he was a physician's assistant in training. Much like his character, Laneuville's St. Elsewhere journey took some major turns, too.
Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.
He began the series as an actor, but moved into the director's chair in 1984 and went on to direct 20 episodes of the medical drama. Laneuville occasionally appeared in front of the camera after the show ended, but directing became his priority.
The Emmy-winning director has helmed episodes of some of the biggest shows on television, including ER, Lost, Blue Bloods, and Grey's Anatomy.
Where can I watch St. Elsewhere?
St. Elsewhere is currently available to buy or rent on Amazon Prime Video.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
