George Clooney and Julianna Margulies Still Call Each Other Their ‘ER’ Names

ER may have ended, but George Clooney and Julianna Margulies’ friendship will go on forever!

While speaking to the Television Academy in honor of the medical drama’s 30th anniversary on Monday, Sept. 16, Marguiles, 58, revealed that she and Clooney, 63, still keep a set tradition alive. 

“It always had to be Carol and Doug, in the end,” Margulies said. “George and I, to this day, still sign our personal emails to each other ‘Love, Carol’ or ‘Doug.’ ” 

Her confession referred to the names of their respective ER characters Marguiles played head nurse Carol Hathaway, while Clooney played her love interest, Dr. Doug Ross.

ER, which debuted in 1994 and ran for 15 seasons before ending in 2009, was set in the emergency room of the fictional County General Hospital in Chicago. During its time on air, the Michael Crichton-created show won 23 Emmy awards.

Margulies — who admitted she still gets “very emotional” if she happens to catch a rerun and hear the ER theme song — also recalled reactions to Clooney later returning to the hit series after his season 5 exit.

“My mother said she screamed, which I think was a lot of people’s reactions. It was the right ending for them because Carol and Doug were destined to be together,” the Morning Show actress continued, adding that ER was “responsible” for her and Clooney’s careers. 

“I will always be indebted to ER,” Margulies added of the NBC show.

ER also starred Anthony Edwards, Sherry Stringfield and Eriq La Salle as doctors, along with Noah Wyle as medical student John Carter.

In a 2022 episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, Clooney confessed that he still remains close to his ER cast members. 

“I guess it was the friendship I have with all of them and that I continue to have,” he said to host Drew Barrymore at the time.

“I had [Anthony] Tony Edwards at the house in Italy three weeks ago — he and Mare came,” the actor said, adding that he is also still “really close” with Margulies and Wyle, 53.

“They’re really good friends,” he continued. “And so I feel that [show] was a job of a lifetime. And it changed my career.”

Clooney’s latest project, Wolfs, is a thriller-comedy costarring Brad Pitt. 

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At the Wednesday, Sept. 18 ,premiere of the film at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, Clooney told PEOPLE what it was like working with Pitt, 60, again after previously appearing in movies like the Ocean’s trilogy and Burn After Reading together.

“From the minute we got there, it was just easy to do it again,” Clooney said. “The fun part is that all the dialogue of us talking on top of each other was pretty easy to do because it was fun.”

Wolfs is in theaters Sept. 20. The movie will begin streaming on Apple TV+ on Sept. 27. ER is available to stream on Hulu.