Talk:Ron Eldard

(Ideas for article)

The former (replaced, but still addressable) section head, "Discussion page for Ron Eldard", describes this entire page, and should not have been used for a section title.

The following box contains a single unsigned contribution, and the signature that belonged with it:

Hi, i'm the most recent editor... I added the Trivia and External Links

If you feel like editing...

• Add an image gallery? I have NO IDEA how to upload images
• The website Ron Eldard Online was down when I last edited; it's a great site, and would have a lot more info for this article
• Maybe a more formal biography, not just a bulleted Trivia list
• Apparently, the filmography was from the International MOVIE database- it only contains his film and tv credits- could you add his stage/writing/other credits?

It's so rare to see such a hot actor who's also a really good actor... *droolslobberdrool* Ahem. Sorry about that. :D
—Preceding unsigned comment added by Allicat9 (talk • contribs) 22:32, 21 April 2005

(Let's just copy!)

I guess it's OK to just lift stuff straight from the IMDB so long as one is sufficiently selective? :-) Watch out for copyright......
—Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.133.181.255 (talk) 08:53, 27 November 2005

   No, it's not OK -- bcz you have to comply with copyright protection.
   However, copyright protects a work's way of expressing info, not the info underlying, and expressed by, a particular work. Paraphrasing their expression of the info is almost always necessary and sufficient.
--Jerzy•t 05:27, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

(Expand)

Oh, man, what a shame for this page to be a stub! I'm going to edit the hell out of this thing, taking the first poster's advice, of course.  :) I agree, Ron Eldard is a fantastic actor and it's such a shame he's known and recognized so little. Maria 22:21, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

Website Still Offline

As of July 2006, the website mentioned above (Ron Eldard Online) is still very definitely offline. 83.132.98.149 15:40, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

(Two issues)

Hi there - I'd love to add things as I go along. I am curious, though, how was the details of the death of his mother found out? Also, I do not believe he was in 28 Days. BB68 (talk) 15:40, 20 October 2009 (UTC)BB

Starring and co-starring

   He's a character actor, and the rule of thumb is that they populate the stage w/ substantial characters, w/o starring.
   More specifically we had

Eldard met his former girlfriend, Julianna Margulies, in an acting class in 1991. They co-starred in NBC's hit show ER together, with Eldard playing the role of a paramedic by the name of Shep. They also starred together in Ghost Ship in 2002. Their relationship ended in 2003.{{Citation needed|date=September 2010|reason=WP:BLP}}

   His plot-summary mentions for the 2nd ER season follow (Most eps have two independent summaries, producing duplication below.):

1. No mention
2. "Carol rides along with paramedics Shep and Raul and Shep shows an interest in Carol." .... "Nurse Hathaway goes for a ride along with paramedics Shep and Raoul."
3. No mention
4. "Shep and Raul have a gunshot victim and when Shep contacts the ER to tell they're coming, gunfire is heard and the radio contact is abruptly cut off." ... "Carol Hathaway is concerned when paramedic Shep is caught in the crossfire while treating a shooting victim."
5. No mention
6. No mention
7. No mention
8. No mention
9. No mention
10. No mention (Hathaway alone)
11. "Shep and Raul enter a house with about a dozen abandoned and undernourished children. They bring them to the ER where they keep the staff busy. ... Shep clashes with Malik and Benton over a racial remark ...." ... "A comment by paramedic Shep lead to accusations of racism."
12. No mention
13. No mention (Hathaway alone)
14. No mention
15. No mention
16. "Shep and Raul get a call about a burning house and are the first ones on the scene. When they find out there are three children inside, Shep goes in, ignoring the fact they don't have the proper equipment. At the ER victims of the fire keep coming in and when somebody says Shep and Raul where there first, everybody starts worrying about their fate, especially Carol." ... "The team, especially Carol Hathaway, are concerned when they learn that paramedics Shep and Raoul may have been trapped in the building. It turns out one of them is severely injured and will not make it through the night. John Carter has trouble performing a procedure on one of the burn victims and Greene has to take over."
17. "Shep has a new partner, ..." ... "Paramedic Shep has a new partner, but is still blames him self for Raul's death."
18. No mention
19. "Paramedic Shep is still showing the effects of stress after the death of his partner."
20. "Shep gets more and more aggressive and shoves a boy interfering with his work. The boy ends up in the ER." ... "With Carol Hathaway on a ride along, Paramedic Shep is aggressive when attending to an injured child and uses excessive force when attending to a gunshot victim."
21. In the investigation regarding Shep pushing Anh Nguyen, Carol has to testify and say what happened." ... "Nurse Carol Hathaway backs up Shep's story that he did not assault a civilian but starts to wonder if she's done the right thing."
22. "Hathaway's boyfriend, Shep, is refusing to undergo his anger management treatment."

In the first ep of the next season, "a line is drawn under" him:

1. "Nurse Hathaway meets her old boyfriend Shep - and his new girlfriend - at the July 4th picnic." (And we shall see him no more.)

Of his 17 credited episodes, from that season and the next season's premier, he was noticable in 9 of them. (She was credited for all 23 of the episodes that spanned his life on the show.)
   If you look at the cover of the boxed set for season 2, you'll see 7 faces; hers is one of them, and i'll save the suspense of naming the others by simply saying his is not.
   Basically what we have here is not them "co-starr[ing] in [it] together...." The show had, that season, an ensemble cast that included 7 principals, she being one of them. He played opposite her for part of most of her episodes (and perhaps all of his), and it sounds like he was featured in one or two of them (by being the main or barely secondary character in one of its (or their) two, maybe three, main subplots); further research might be able to show that he was one of the stars of that or those episodes, but it's far-fetched to imagine even in that case that they were co-stars for an episode, and neither co-starred with the other for that season of ER, let alone in ER as a whole.
   Ghost Ship is a fascinating artifact in this regard. Clearly she was the co-star of Gabriel Byrne. Now, Eldard had third billing, but read the IMDb synopsis: it names about 6 of the characters; how can it be that the third-billed actor is so irrelevant to the plot as to escape mention? Billings often reflect the importance of roles, and perhaps "Dodge" was crucial to setting the mood of the piece by dying horribly, or exhibiting horror, or both, in the opening scene without the advantage of any dialogue to win the audience's attention with: a demanding piece of acting. Or (all of this being about the business of putting asses into seats in front of specific screens) perhap Ms. Margulies agreed to deliver the asses that follow her around in return for the opportunity for the ears attached to them to associate Mr. Eldard with her and/or near-stardom, or for the corresponding eyes to increase their appetite for his Golden-Gloves bod. I haven't seen the film, so all i can tell you is that he got third billing, and i know not why. Perhaps reliable critics raved about him, saying he exceeded Byrne as a star of the show; if so, bring their reviews forth (and word his status in accord with what they say), but until then, our only presumption can be that Byrne and Margulies co-starred, and we don't have the explanation for Eldard's billing.
   In the meantime, i have clarified and de-hagiographied the 'graph:

Eldard met Julianna Margulies in an acting class in 1991, and they developed a close relationship.{{Citation needed|date=December 2010|reason=WP:BLP}} She was a principal of ER from its first season, and for the second (1995-'96) season and an episode longer, he was a frequently recurring character (often playing opposite her) as the paramedic Shep. He was billed just below her in Ghost Ship in 2002. That relationship ended in 2003.{{Citation needed|date=September 2010|reason=WP:BLP}}

(I also assumed that "met his former girlfriend" is just mis-speaking in the process of ignoring the chronology, rather than leaving out the beginning, in the process of describing their having revived a pre-'90s relationship after a chance reunion.)
--Jerzy•t 07:53, 14 December 2010 (UTC)