Ed Begley Jr.: Remembering Victor Ehrlich on “St. Elsewhere”

Ed Begley Jr. as Dr. Victor Ehrlich in "St.Elsewhere".
Source: https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/st-elsewhere-cast-members-80s-medical-drama-still-alive.html/
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Watching the last season of “Better Call Saul” recently, has had me thinking about “St. Elsewhere”.

It was a show that was “Grey’s Anatomy” before “Grey’s Anatomy” back in the 1980s, set in St. Eligius Hospital in Boston. Unlike Shepherd-Grey Hospital, St. Eligius was the bottom of the barrel, called St. Elsewhere because patients would rather be treated elsewhere.

Starring in that show was an up until that point relatively unknown actor who would play Dr. Victor Ehrlich for the entire six-year run in the show.

Fast forward 40 years and Ed Begley Jr. has taken his skills from Boston to Albuquerque, playing the role of legal patriarch Cliff Main.

Yet to me, Ed Begley Jr. will always be Victor Ehrlich.

St. Elsewhere
“St. Elsewhere” followed the lives of doctors, nurses, and hospital staff, both at the hospital and at home.

Victor Ehrlich was a young doctor from California who brought his skills east to Boston. He was glib, sarcastic, wore Hawaiian shirts to the hospital, and didn’t take things as seriously as he should have all the time. It was no wonder Ehrlich was friends with Wayne Fiscus, played by Howie Mandel, who was another doctor who acted like a goof. Keeping Ehrich in line was the talented and stern chief of surgery, Dr. Mark Craig, who continually berated Ehrlich because he knew how good the young doctor could be.

The episode I remember best, that demonstrates Ehrlich’s attitude, involved a surgery he was preparing for. The patient was in front of him, already unconscious from the anesthesia, and Ehrlich said something about the patient. Ehrlich’s attending surgeon said patients may be unconscious but they can still hear. Ehrlich was dismissive and, for good measure, said a few more things about and to the patient.

After the surgery, when Ehrlich and his attending went to visit the patient, the patient referred specifically to what Ehrlich had said.

Ehrlich’s reaction? He looked like he wanted to faint.

Begley played Victor Ehrlich for the entire run of “St. Elsewhere”, from 1982 to 1988. The role earned him six consecutive Emmy Award nominations and a Golden Globe nomination for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series.

The rest of the decade and beyond
Ed Begley Jr. was a prolific actor to say the least. By the dawn of the 1980s he had built quite a resumé, with a variety of guest starring roles that included “Battlestar Galactica”; “Fantasy Island”; “Columbo”; “M*A*S*H”; and “Charlie’s Angels” to name a few.

Add to that in the 1980s roles in “Barnaby Jones”; “Voyagers!”; “The Love Boat”; and “Saturday Night Live”.

He also appeared in a lot of theatrical movies such as “An Officer and a Gentleman” in 1982, although it was only his voice; “Young Doctors in Love” in 1982; “Streets of Fire” and “This is Spinal Tap”, both in 1984; “Transylvania 6-5000” in 1985; “The Accidental Tourist” in 1988: and “Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills” in 1989.

Begley continues to act to this day, having appeared in hundreds of productions. He is also an environmental activist and promotes an eco-friendly life.

Ed Begley
From the moment I saw Ed Begley Jr. on “St. Elseswhere”, I wondered who Ed Begley Sr. was. I finally got my chance, early in 1986 after I got a VCR for Christmas, and began taping stuff off the TV, and playing tapes others made for me.

That’s when I saw a movie, I had heard a lot about, and it did not disappoint. It was called “12 Angry Men”, and was set in a jury room as 12 jurors deliberated on the fate of a man accused of murder. Ed Begley played one of those jurors.

Later, I learned Begley Sr. won an Oscar for best supporting actor for “Sweet Bird of Youth” in 1962, was nominated for a Golden Globe for the same role, and  in 1965 was nominated for an Emmy for a television adaptation of “Inherit the Wind”.

He died in 1970, at the age of 69, when his son Ed was just 20 years old.

Parting thoughts
It is ironic that Cliff Main is a serious, by-the-book lawyer on “Better Call Saul”, because that is exactly the opposite of Victor Ehrlich on “St. Elsewhere”. I would suspect Cliff Main’s reaction to Victor Ehrlich’s antics would have been similar to his reaction to Jimmy McGill and later Saul Goodman’s antics on "Better Call Saul".

It shows just how versatile an actor Ed Begley Jr. is. In fact, it is hard for me to imagine that the same man playing Cliff Main, played Victor Ehrlich.

Now that’s talent.