(2011, on St. Elsewhere (1982)) Bruce Paltrow. That wouldn't have happened, at least for me, without Bruce Paltrow. On the day I got that role, I was actually down the hall with Steven Bochco reading for a show called Bay City Blues (1983). For the fifth time. And I walked down the hall after that reading, being no closer to getting that role than I was when I walked in. But the casting director, who also happened to be casting "St. Elsewhere", said, "Hey, you know, we're trying to cast this plastic surgeon, you want to take a look at this and come in and read?" And it was a cold reading. I just got the sides and walked right in. Bruce was there, and Tom Fontana and Mark Tinker were all in the room. And I read, and right there in the room, Bruce said, "Hey, I liked that! That was good! You want to do this?" Which had never happened before. And I left and called my agent and said, "Hey, we're gonna get an offer to do this", and he said, "Bay City Blues?" I said, "No, no, this show called "St. Elsewhere". He said, "What?" It wasn't even the show he had sent me in for! That was an important experience, to get a chance to work with that body of actors on that show for a number of years. Again, you get a chance to say better words, and you get to play against really talented people. There was a young group of actors on that show and there was an older group. We all got along, but for us young guys, it was just a constant effort to keep our jobs. It's where I certainly gained respect for the writer and not arbitrarily changing anything in the script. You say what's written. That's certainly the way Aaron Sorkin works. I'm glad I got that down. That was an important thing, to respect the writing.
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