List of St. Elsewhere characters

This is a list of characters from the medical drama St. Elsewhere.

Portrayed by Ed Flanders (regular cast member, 1982–1987; recurring appearances, 1987–1988)

Kindly Dr. Westphall was Director of Medicine at St. Eligius, the hospital that served as St. Elsewhere's setting, and was regarded as its heart, who was one of the two principal characters of the series. He was the one other characters went to for a kindly word and a pat on the back. Dr. Westphall started his association with the hospital as a troubled youth under the influence of hospital founder Fr. Joseph McCabe (Edward Herrmann). Raising two children alone after the death of his wife Maureen from an auto accident, which occurred seven years before the series began (a death recounted in flashback in the 2-part season 4 episode "Time Heals"), Westphall struggled to keep up with the demands his colleagues, staff and residents placed on him, while still trying to be a good father. He initially resigned in 1985 and travelled to Africa to do some volunteer work. However, upon his return from Africa, he was brought back as Director of Medicine. During his second stint, Westphall became noticeably more demanding on the residents and the hospital board. He pushed for residents to complete community service and asked for funds to open up a new hospital ward that would feed the hungry. Once again feeling burnt out and being pressured by the new hospital owners, Dr. Westphall quit his job and left the hospital 3 episodes into Season 6. His delivery of his resignation (in which he told John Gideon, "You can kiss my ass, pal") is one of the most famous and controversial scenes in American television, as it shows Westphall with his pants down and his rump exposed. The scene was preserved by NBC censors as it was not considered erotic (the episode was titled "A Moon for the Misbegotten"). Westphall would make recurring appearances during that 6th and final season, including the series finale in which he was asked to take charge of St. Eligius again; he also appears in that episode's famous final scene, which suggested that the entire world of St. Elsewhere was, in fact, just the product of his autistic son Tommy's imagination.

Portrayed by William Daniels

Irritable and irascible, Dr. Mark Craig was the hospital's lone superstar, who was another principal character of the series. An arrogant but brilliant heart surgeon, Craig's tenure with the hospital goes back to the 1950s when he was an intern under the similarly intolerant Dr. David Domedion (Jackie Cooper). Feeling he was too good for St. Eligius, he initially took a position at rival Boston General. However, he was lured back to St. Eligius in the mid 1960s with the promise of high-tech equipment and a higher salary. While he could have left at any time after that, he chose not to and stayed on to act as mentor and tormentor to the hospital's young doctors, especially to protege Dr. Victor Ehrlich. Dr. Craig would not hesitate to toss a bullying and sarcastic barb at any doctor, nurse, administrator or patient who happened to pass his way. Craig's celebrity status and exposure would be boosted when he performed a heart transplant on Eve Leighton (Marian Mercer). Though the transplant was initially successful, Leighton would die from complications of the surgery. A few years later, Dr. Craig developed an artificial heart (the "Craig 9000"), which he eventually tests on a human subject. The failure of the heart brings a fleeting moment of self-reflection to the otherwise supremely confident doctor. In one of St Elsewhere's most-compelling moments, Dr. Craig witnessed the autopsy of his only son Steven (Scott Paulin), from whom he had been estranged due to his own autocratic ways and his son's drug abuse. Holding his son's heart, Dr. Craig spoke tenderly of the times when he used to read Green Eggs and Ham to his son. Together, he says, the two would read the final lines of the book. Mark Craig would be ranked #41 in TV Guide's 1999 ranking of the "50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time." Throughout the run, Daniels is the only actor to appear in every episode of the series, with the exception of 8.

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