Television

Issue date:
May 8-10, 1997

What TV's Top doctor has learned about patience

Whether playing in the park with his young son or playing angst-ridden Dr. Greene on ER, Anthony Edwards operates at his own pace.

Also in this story:
Behind the scenes at ER
Related Stories:
Profile: George Clooney
Straight Talk: Gloria Reuben

By Gayle Jo Carter

n person, Anthony Edwards is taller than you might expect from watching him play Dr. Mark Greene on ER -- over 6 feet, and lanky in that Jimmy Stewart way. He's far quieter than his angst-ridden, emotionally stunted emergency-room doctor. And, unlike the exploding Greene, Edwards tends to lean in closer to be heard instead of talking louder.

Overall, he's more measured, more patient, more thoughtful than you'd imagine someone who, at 35, has spent half his life performing. "My initial reason for getting into acting was because I wanted to be liked," Edwards acknowledges after an intense morning on the "blood"-filled set of ER, where he has just spent seven hours saving lives. "I wanted the attention, and when you're the youngest [of five], you're always striving for that."

Now, though, he's striving for something besides acclaim, attention or money, all of which ER has brought him. His new priority is a balanced life, time with his family, the chance to savor his ER success rather than plot his next move.

"Lately, I think the main responsibility is patience," he says, speaking of the way he and his wife, cosmetics company creator-owner Jeanine Lobell, approach rearing their 3 1/2-year-old son, Bailey, and 1 1/2-year-old daughter, Esme. "You have to really be aware of switching gears" from hectic career lives to "dealing with the foundation of a being that's just discovering all this. Patience with yourself and with your children."

It's a philosophy that Edwards applies broadly, to his career and life. "You've got to make the most of where you are. Then, when you're somewhere else, you've got to have the ability to fulfill that."

Family is No. 1

Edwards was among the original lead cast members handed a $1 million bonus last year when ER re-upped with NBC for a record $13 million per episode, and this week's season-ender after the Seinfeld finale could be part of the most-watched night in TV history. With that kind of success has come the financial independence that lets actors follow their hearts rather than their agents' advice.

"There's always an assumption that everybody wants something," says wife Lobell. "You're an actor? You must want to be Tom Cruise. You're an actress? You must want to be Demi Moore or Sharon Stone. It's not the case with Tony," as Edwards is known to family and colleagues. "What he wants is completely different, and what I want from him is completely different."

Maybe it's the "been there, done that" factor for Edwards, who, after early notice as Tom Cruise's martyred buddy in 1986's Top Gun, found himself in movies like Pet Sematary II and How I Got Into College. Audiences did get an early preview of his TV potential from his critically praised portrayal of the multiphobic "bubble man" on Northern Exposure.

"To me," Edwards says, devouring a lunch of chopped salad and chardonnay in the Warner Bros. studio restaurant, "living in L.A. is a little too much like living in Hershey, Pa. You know, it's a one-gig town. I like the gig, but I don't want it to be in every aspect of my life." In fact, he plans to move with the family -- both he and Lobell want more children -- to New York City when ER has had its run.

"I don't necessarily want my children to have [Hollywood] as their routine. There are a lot of things going on in the world that are a lot more important than the movie business, and you would never imagine that when you're living here." (That's why Edwards doesn't allow this magazine and others to photograph them.)

What Edwards does share with his Hollywood alter ego is "dedication," co-star Julianna Margulies explains in a call from Chicago, where ER is filming an episode that Edwards is directing. "He puts the same amount of energy into his family that Greene puts into his career."

Edwards' life inevitably includes some friends in the business. Besides ER colleague and basketball buddy George Clooney, Edwards counts recent Oscar winner and Mad About You star Helen Hunt as a "good friend." The two, who met on a failed sitcom, and their families have spent every Thanksgiving together for 15 years, and are involved in a program to help young runaways.

6 weeks, 5 kids, 1 van

Edwards' approach was shaped by his own happy childhood. He grew up in Santa Barbara, Calif., his dad an architect, his mom an artist. He talks fondly about the stability his parents created in a home where all the kids were expected to show up for dinner, and smiles widely when he recalls family vacations:

"My dad was creative in a way. He found a school bus that had been converted into, basically, a motor home. ... We drove that to Mexico. The biggest trip was in 1968, when we all went as a family to Europe. Six weeks. Five kids. Two parents. In a VW van. That's a heroic adventure."

Now Edwards is learning what only a parent can, and it's another reason his goals differ from his child-free ER colleagues'. "If there was ever a thing to put anything in perspective, it's when you take that second and go, 'Wow. That child needs parents, and we're the parents.' It's that responsibility and joy of being able to help that child discover the world.

"I went on a great walk this weekend with my son and our dog in Griffith Park, just sticks, a little [game of] lookout, snacks. We had a great adventure. I love playing in that world."

"He's a good dad," Lobell attests. "He gets up in the morning and lets me sleep." The couple tries to work their busy schedule to allow at least one of them to be around for the kids. "This week," she says, "I've been staying home as much as possible" while Edwards works at night and on weekends directing. "He doesn't suffer from the assumption that it's my responsibility."

"I don't relate to machismo" or the stereotypical male beating-on-the-chest role, Edwards says. "If anything, it's about letting go of the definitions we've had of men and women, and that women are somehow weaker. Not in the experiences I've had with women in my life: I don't find my mother to be weak, and my wife is certainly not weak. As far as men being domineering and physical and violent, my father is not. My brothers aren't. I hope I'm not."

Edwards says he won't judge the White House sex controversy: "My family had all kinds of complications in relationships. I would like to meet the person who did not. Since when is being absolutely perfect what being a human is? What do we gain from that?"

On the ER set, Edwards is known for his work ethic; George Clooney calls him "the secret of the show."

Says Edwards: "George does more to keep us laughing. I just try and really be prepared and set the example of actors coming to work and then dealing with their other stuff somewhere else." Edwards says he's seen shows go bad when stars start "acting out" because of issues in their personal lives.

Kids, of course, are a different matter. He's a self-described "nauseatingly proud dad" who loves nothing more than spending time talking to the ER script supervisor about her children and sharing stories. "Then," he says, "we're happy as clams."

Gayle Jo Carter, USA WEEKEND's entertainment editor, last profiled Jenna Elfman of TV's Dharma & Greg.