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Sherry Stringfield: Back to ER
Wednesday, October 17, 2001

When Sherry Stringfield exited her role as ER's Dr. Susan Lewis in 1996, rumors of hard feelings abounded. Having just signed a new three-year contract entailing "more" cash than she earned before, the actress -- whose first episode airs tomorrow night at 10 pm/ET on NBC -- finally is setting the record straight.

"The first thing in this business is you can't take anything personally," Stringfield says. "ER changed my life ¯ nothing can ever take that away. When I left, they didn't believe I was leaving to get a life. They thought, in a very business sense, that I was leaving to further my career or perhaps capitalize in some way on the ER fame. So they put some serious restrictions on me [doing other projects].

"My attitude then was, 'Fine, I'm leaving to not work. That's the whole point.' What am I, an idiot? If I wanted to work, I'd stay on the number-one show. So it didn't really bother me." But that's all water under the bridge now, says the Texan beauty: "[The producers] saw I was true to my word and everything's fine."

Indeed, perhaps the best thing about returning to ER is that fans will finally stop asking Stringfield why she left. "They said I was crazy," she groans. "Oh yeah, [it was] really annoying. People who work on Wall Street change jobs twice a year! Being an actress, I didn't exactly see what the big deal is. But I understand it can appear to be a very coveted position. I think people thought, 'Gosh, was there something really bad about [the job]?' I came to understand that they didn't have a full understanding of an actor's life. It's very rare to have a job that lasts more than a year or two. Very rare."

Even so, Stringfield admits she's "so bummed" about the impending departures of castmates Anthony Edwards and Eriq LaSalle at the end of this season. Laughs the actress: "I'm like, 'Wait a minute, you can't leave!' And our executive producer [John Wells] is like, 'I don't think you can tell them that.' I'm going to try, though."

During her time away, Stringfield taught acting and script-analysis classes, wed journalist Larry Joseph and gave birth to their six-month-old daughter, Phoebe. And while working on ER's set is "exactly the same" as before, one thing is different: "I used to take a coffee break," she laughs. "Now, I take a breastfeeding break!" ¯ Daniel R. Coleridge