St. Elsewhere

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1. redirect

The cast of St. Elsewhere.

St. Elsewhere was a serial hospital drama that first aired on NBC in 1982, running for six seasons and 137 episodes until 1988. The series was made by MTM Enterprises, which also made Hill Street Blues, a show with which St. Elsewhere is often compared.

The series was set in a decaying urban teaching hospital called St. Eligius, in Boston's South End neighborhood (said at the time to be based on Boston City Hospital, now Boston Medical Center), and took its name from the hospital's nickname, "St. Elsewhere", a dark, old medical industry slang term for poor hospitals which serve patients not wanted by the more prestigious institutions. As a medical drama, St. Elsewhere dealt with serious issues of life and death, though episodes also included a substantial amount of black comedy.

The series had a large ensemble cast, a "realistic" visual style, and a profusion of interlocking stories, and could be regarded as something of a serial for its ongoing storylines that continued over the course of many episodes. Its influence can be seen in more recent medical series such as ER. The series was well regarded by critics, and received numerous Emmys during its six-season run and, while it was never a ratings blockbuster, did respectably well in terms of viewership. (The series was said to have been a favorite of then NBC chief Brandon Tartikoff, which may have had something to do with its being renewed each season.)

St. Elsewhere is also noted for helping to launch the careers of a number of then little-known actors, who have gone onto much greater fame, including Denzel Washington, David Morse, Alfre Woodard, Mark Harmon, and Howie Mandel.

Cast

• Dr. Donald Westphall — Ed Flanders
• Dr. Mark Craig — William Daniels
• Dr. Ben Samuels (1982-1983) — David Birney
• Dr. Victor Ehrlich — Ed Begley, Jr.
• Dr. Jack Morrison — David Morse
• Dr. Annie Cavanero (1982-1985) — Cynthia Sikes
• Dr. Wayne Fiscus — Howie Mandel
• Dr. Cathy Martin (1982-1986) — Barbara Whinnery
• Dr. Peter White (1982-1985) — Terence Knox
• Dr. Hugh Beale (1982-1983) — G.W. Bailey
• Nurse Helen Rosenthal — Christina Pickles
• Dr. Phillip Chandler — Denzel Washington
• Dr. V. J. Kochar (1982-1984) — Kavi Raz
• Dr. Wendy Armstrong (1982-1984) — Kim Miyori
• Dr. Daniel Auschlander — Norman Lloyd
• Nurse Shirley Daniels (1982-1985) — Ellen Bry
• Orderly Luther Hawkins — Eric Laneuville
• Joan Halloran (1983-1984) — Nancy Stafford
• Dr. Robert Caldwell (1983-1986) — Mark Harmon
• Dr. Michael Ridley (1983-1984) — Paul Sand
• Mrs. Ellen Craig — Bonnie Bartlett
• Dr. Elliot Axelrod (1983-1988) — Stephen Furst
• Nurse Lucy Papandrao — Jennifer Savidge
• Dr. Jaqueline Wade (1983-1988) — Sagan Lewis
• Orderly Warren Coolidge (1984-1988) — Byron Stewart
• Dr. Emily Humes (1984-1985) — Judith Hansen
• Dr. Alan Poe (1984-1985) — Brian Tochi
• Nurse Peggy Shotwell (1984-1986) — Saudra Sharp
• Mrs. Hufnagel (1984-1985) — Florence Halop
• Dr. Roxanne Turner (1985-1987) — Alfre Woodard
• Ken Valere (1985-1986) — George Deloy
• Terri Valere (1985-1986) — Deborah May
• Dr. Seth Griffin (1986-1988) — Bruce Greenwood
• Dr. Paulette Kiem (1986-1988) — France Nuyen
• Dr. Carol Novino (1986-1988) — Cindy Pickett
• Joanne McFadden (1986-1988) — Patricia Wettig
• Dr. John Gideon (1987-1988) — Ronny Cox
• Tommy Westphall (1983-1986, plus final episode) — Chad Allen

Notes

• Despite its 80s groundbreaking status as the new style "TV dramedy" and huge critical acclaim, St. Elsewhere ironically suffered from poor ratings. It survived for 6 seasons because it appealed to the 80s "yuppie" crowd which was lucrative to advertizers.
• Donald Westphall's exit is famous. Frustrated by the new administration of the hospital, he quit and then mooned then-boss John Gideon.
• The building used in exterior shots of the hospital, while only a block away from Boston City Hospital (now Boston Medical Center, and ostensibly the basis for the hospital depicted on the show), is an apartment building and was never used as a hospital. (It was, however, used as a nurses' residence.)
• In the opening credits a rare (and, by the end of the show, anachronistic) shot of an MBTA Orange Line train can be seen on the elevated tracks above Washington Street. This line was demolished and relocated below ground in 1987.
• The last episode reveals that the entire course of events of the show's six-year run were a figment of an autistic boy's (Tommy Westphall) imagination.
• Though filmed in Hollywood, cast and crew were flown to Boston for two weeks each season to film all of that season's exterior shots. Producers went to great lengths to make sure that street names and other Boston details were accurate and correctly pronounced. In addition they insisted on accurate medical terminology and authentic procedures.
• A 1986 episode featured a Cheers crossover, in which Drs. Westphall, Auschlander and Craig stop into the fictional Cheers Pub (also set in Boston) for a drink, and Craig gets into a verbal altercation with barmaid Carla Tortelli (Rhea Perlman). This was unusual at the time, as it crossed sitcom characters over into a dramatic series.
• The series was noted for featuring an unusually large number of in-jokes and oblique pop culture references. A favorite device was to use the hospital's P.A. system to page doctors from other medical series. (This was usually only heard in the backgound, and never remarked upon by any St. Elsewhere character.) Other pop culture references were buried in dialogue, such as (among many others) Dr. Craig telling his housekeeper, "Watch out Grace, the roads are a little slick" (ref. Grace Slick); or Dr. Auschlander telling Dr. Westphall "When you're petty, you can be a heartbreaker" (ref. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers); or having several of the regulars on Steve Allen's Tonight Show appear as various St. Elsewhere cast members' fathers — and then, in a line of dialogue about a fire, having Allen say to the other 'fathers', "Well, that's tonight's show over."
• Bonnie Bartlett, who played Mark Craig's wife Ellen, is married to Craig's portrayer William Daniels in real life. Ellen Craig was a recurring character during the show's early years, appearing in a few episodes per season. She proved to be so popular that she became a regular cast member beginning with St. Elsewhere's fifth season.
• David Birney's Dr. Ben Samuels was to be one of the central characters, but proved to be one of the least popular characters, and was written out by the second season.
• Orderly Warren Coolidge, played by Byron Stewart, was a crossover character from the 70s TV series The White Shadow, in which he played a flakey but talented basketball player in high school. In one episode, Coolidge is seen wearing a "Carver High School" t-shirt, his alma mater in Los Angeles. Over the years, several oblique references were made to Coolidge's basketball days, usually by fellow orderly Luther Hawkins, that explained his crossover to St. Elsewhere. In one episode, Coolidge explains that he accepted a basketball scholarship at Boston College but blew out his knee during his sophomore year.
• Actor Tim Robbins appeared uncredited in a first-season story arc, playing an injured, very nasty and unrepentant bank robber who had shot a bank customer.

Awards & Nominations

Awards Won

• Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series William Daniels (1985-86)
• Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Bonnie Bartlett (1986-87)
• Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series Ed Flanders (1983)
• Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series James Coco (1983)
• Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Doris Roberts (1983

Awards Nominated

• Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Bonnie Bartlett (1988)
• Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series Ed Flanders (1985, 1986)
• Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Alfre Woodard (1986)
• Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series William Daniels (1983-84, 1987)
• Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Ed Begley Jr. (1984-88)
• Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Piper Laurie (1984)
• Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Christina Pickles (1983, 1985-1988)

References