How George Clooney Saved Julianna Margulies From Being Killed Off 'ER'

Juliana Marguiles and George Clooney

Julianna Margulies may not have had as long of a tenure on ER if it weren’t for George Clooney.

Margulies, 58, revealed how a near-failed audition led to her reading for the role of Carol Hathaway, who she portrayed on the soap for six seasons from 1994 to 2000, during the Friday, November 8, episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show.

The actress began her story by recalling that she had three auditions scheduled for the day, so she arrived early to her ER read – a habit she picked up after growing up with a “hippie, crazy, wonderful mother who was always late.”

“There [were] probably 50 people in the waiting room and they were running two hours behind and I was pissed,” she told host Kelly Clarkson. “I was like, ‘I’m gonna be late for my other auditions, this is not OK. Forget it.'”

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Around the two-hour mark, Margulies said she was “walking out” when a casting director asked her to read for a recurring role.

“But I was so pissed off that I did it really rudely — a little New York anger. And I knew I flunked,” she continued. “And I walked out of the audition and the casting director said, ‘Hold on a minute. You’re not right for the part.’ And I was like, ‘Ya think?’ And he said, ‘But you might be right for this head nurse Carol Hathaway, but she dies in the pilot. But could you come read for that?’ So I went back in and I read for Hathaway, with a lot of attitude. And I got the role.”

Margulies noted that in the original script, Carol died from a drug overdose. Her death proved to be one of the most emotional moments from the pilot, as it was seen “through George Clooney’s eyes” due to Carol being an “old flame” of Doug Ross, the character he went on to portray for five seasons.

ER

“So suddenly her death seemed really important to the audience watching,” Margulies noted, explaining that when the episode was shown to a test audience, the crowd collectively reacted with, “No!” She added, “Because they love George Clooney so much — who doesn’t?”

In addition to Clooney, 63, helping her secure her iconic role, ER actress Sherry Stringfield, who portrayed Dr. Susan Lewis, also had a hand in Margulies locking down her part.

Susan happened to be in the operating room when Carol was brought in on a gurney, and had put her clipboard in front of her mouth when she said, “She’s braindead” – meaning audience members couldn’t lip-read her words.

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“So they just looped different lines in saying, ‘She’s gonna be okay,’ or whatever. And they brought me back to life,” Margulies said.

After Margulies’ exit from ER in 2000, she went on to star in The Good Wife and appeared on Dietland, The Hot Zone, Billions and The Morning Show opposite Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston. Her most recent acting credit is 2024’s Millers in Marriage.

Clooney, for his part, has starred in a myriad of blockbuster and award-winning films, including the Ocean’s trilogy, Burn After Reading, The Descendants, The Men Who Stare at Goats and Good Night, and Good Luck. He’s also won two Oscars.

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As for his next big project, Clooney will make his Broadway debut in Good Night, and Good Luck in the spring of 2025.

“I just emailed him and said, ‘I’m so proud of you. You don’t have to do this,’” Margulies told People last month. “It’s scary, you know, being on Broadway. And the world we live in now, everyone’s a judge, and you have to block all that out and do your work. And so, I’m really proud of him for picking a hard road. It’s not easy work, and I’m really impressed that he’s doing it.”