Mark Greene

Dr. Mark Greene from Season 1 of ER.

This article is about the ER character. For the Wisconsin Representative see Mark Green.

Dr. Mark Greene was a fictional medical doctor from the television series ER. He was portrayed by Anthony Edwards.

Early life

Mark Greene, an only child, was raised by his mother, Ruth, and father, David. David Greene served in the United States Navy, and thus the family traveled a lot and moved around frequently. As a young man Mark had a very strained relationship with his father, and was decidedly closer to his mother. He'd often act out in an attempt to upset his father, and aimed his goals in the opposite of what David wanted. The most memorable time of his childhood was when his family was in Hawaii, a time he would later recreate toward the end of his life.

Mark entered medical school, married Jennifer (Jenn), with whom he had a daughter, Rachel. He completed his internship and residency in the Emergency Department of County General Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.

1994-2002

In the pilot episode, which takes place on St. Patrick's Day 1994, Dr. Greene is a resident in the ER of County General. Dr. Greene is awakened in the first scene to help sober up his long-time friend, Doug Ross, a pediatrician also on duty in the ER. Within the same episode, Jenn gets Mark to visit a private practice near the hospital to explore the possibility of leaving the ER, to give him more family-friendly hours. Mark decides the "clean" medicine isn't his cup of tea. Mark removes a hangnail from an older woman, who wanted him to remove it despite the fact she'd be charged $180. Later that same day, Mark must coordinate the ER to continue working when Nurse Hathaway is brought in, the victim of a drug overdose.

During the first season, Dr. Greene's marriage becomes increasingly shaky. When offered an attending physician's position by David Morgenstern, Mark readily accepts, much to Jenn's chagrin. As a newly-admitted member of the bar, Jenn has been clerking in Wisconsin for a judge and becomes increasingly tired of commuting and living separately to accommodate Mark's job. She begins an affair with a coworker, and the marriage soon ends, with Rachel and Jenn leaving Chicago first for Wisconsin, and later for St. Louis, Missouri.

Mark's career becomes more difficult as he begins needing to make decisions that periodically alienate his friends, such as selecting Dr. Kerry Weaver over another applicant, which resulted in Dr. Susan Lewis not receiving a promotion. His friendship with Dr. Ross becomes strained as his administrative tasks often put him at odds with Doug's wild ways. His love life takes a more drastic downward spin when his feelings for Dr. Lewis become so noticed that he's driven to ask her out, only to have her leave for Phoenix, Arizona. He will suffer emotionally again after he is attacked in the ER men's room, supposedly a retaliatory act to avenge the death of a patient who may have been "mistreated" by Dr. Greene because of the patient's race.

With the passing of Doug's father comes the re-entrance of Mark's parents when he and Doug travel to California to settle Doug's father's affairs. Mark's parents live in another part of California, and they take a side trip to visit. His relationship with his father remains strained, and his mother soon suffers from a string of medical conditions associated with aging. Mark's distrust for the Navy brings him at odds with David when he and Mark fight over whether his Ruth should be treated in a base hospital or a civilian hospital. Ruth eventually dies.

Mark eventually meets a British surgeon, Elizabeth Corday. Corday is in Chicago on an exchange program, under the guidance of Robert Romano. Romano's advances on Corday fail, as does her relationship with Peter Benton. Eventually, Mark and Elizabeth begin dating. By now, David Greene's lung cancer has advanced to a stage where he can no longer care for himself, and he reluctantly moves to Chicago and stays with Mark. After an emotional bonding that healed their failed bonding during Mark's youth, David succumbs to lung cancer.

Mark and Elizabeth begin a more serious relationship and move in together. Mark later buys a house at 1211 Dupont Drive, and Elizabeth and he are married. Together they have one daughter, Ella.

Death

Mark begins having medical problems, and is eventually diagnosed with a brain tumor that is thought to be inoperable. Given little time, Mark seeks a second opinion, which proves more positive. He is operated on in New York City, and things appear normal. A year or so later, the tumor returns, and Mark finds out that the tumor is truly inoperable.

At this point, Rachel has run away from St. Louis and is staying with Mark and Elizabeth. Though she vehemently denies it, her experimentation with drugs becomes apparent when baby Ella gets hold of some ecstasy in her backpack and nearly dies from ingesting it. Elizabeth, with Ella, leaves Mark and moves into a motel. Mark stays with Dr. Lewis (who has since returned from Phoenix) during his treatments, not willing to tell Elizabeth that his tumor has recurred. Eventually, he resigns himself to certain truths. On his last day in the ER, he meets with the same older woman that viewers saw on the first episode of ER. She again has a hangnail, and complains about how painful it is. Mark tells her that he has an inoperable tumor, and that he has won. He leaves the ER, stops his chemotherapy treatments, and takes Rachel on a last-minute trip to Hawaii to relive happier times. After several moves around the island, he suffers from increased symptoms. Joined by Elizabeth and Ella in Hawaii, he later dies peacefully at 6:04 in the morning.

Mark's body is returned to Chicago, and he is buried there. Many of his friends come to the funeral, though neither Doug Ross nor Carol Hathaway are seen in his funeral scene, which some fans consider odd because of the close friendship between the three. Those who do attend the funeral include John Carter, Peter Benton, Kerry Weaver, Abby Lockhart, Luka Kovac, Susan Lewis, Jing-Mei Chen, Robert Romano, Jerry Markovic, Frank Martin, William "Wild Willy" Swift (played by Michael Ironside in 1994), Haleh Adams, Michael Gallant, Cleo Finch, Jenn, Rachel, Ella, and Elizabeth. After the funeral, Rachel asks Elizabeth if she can see Ella; Elizabeth agrees, saying she is Ella's sister. Rachel goes back to living with her mother in St. Louis, but later returns to Chicago when the time comes to select a college.

Epilogue

Dr. Mark Greene was written out of the series because actor Anthony Edwards had decided that he wanted to move on to other opportunities. Dr. Greene did appear in photos included in the slideshow shown at Dr. Carter's farewell party in The Show Must Go On. Greene was also heard in a voice-over telling Carter that he needed to "set the tone" in the ER (which, incidentally, was what Dr. Morgenstern told Dr. Greene in the pilot episode). In the episode "Body and Soul", he is mentioned during a flashback to 2002, when Dr. Pratt tells his patient, Nate Lennox (James Woods), that the reason the ER has few staff working is because they are at Greene's funeral.