Post by merg on Jun 8, 2004 9:56:13 GMT -5
[url=http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=5369117
LONDON (Reuters) - British actress Alex Kingston says she has been axed from the hit U.S. hospital drama "ER" because she is too old.
Kingston, 41, who plays the widowed surgeon Elizabeth Corday, said she was "shocked and upset" when she learned her contract would not be renewed.
"Apparently I, according to the producers, the writers, am part of the old fogeys who are no longer interesting," she told the BBC's Radio Times listings magazine.
"Does it mean that I am the geriatric being pushed out because she is too old?"
Kingston joined NBC's Emmy award-winning show in its fourth series, broadcast in 1997-98, and became one of the main characters, starring alongside George Clooney.
She said she had grown "deeply unhappy" with the show and felt her character was being used less and less.
"There was a point where I had to find out what was going on and that was when the producers said they would no longer renew my contract," she said.
"It was a shock and upsetting, but it is just your ego that is upset."
Kingston said her $150,000 an episode salary may have made her too expensive.
"I am sure there must have been some financial feeling behind the decision not to renew my contract."
Kingston, who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, plans to return to Britain from Los Angeles. She hopes to act, write and produce.
"ER" was created by "Jurassic Park" author Michael Crichton and is based in the casualty ward of a Chicago hospital.
© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.
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