John Stamos Goes to the Dark Side for ‘ER’

John Stamos' forthcoming series stint on "E.R." is definitely giving the actor a chance to explore his dark side. Tony Gates, the paramedic/med student he's playing, will prove to have some major "anger management issues," as Stamos puts it.

John Stamos to the Dark Side

"It's an interesting part of the character, because it could happen in the operating room, in the hospital. You never know when it happens," replies Stamos, whose character will also find romance with Parminder Nagra's. "So it's fun to play, you know? It's great to be able to do that, to be given chances to do things that are so interesting. I've been doing this for 25 years, so I'm lucky to keep working."
 
UP TO SPEED:

Jack Klugman's wild and crazy Passover comedy, "When Do We Eat?" -- with Lesley Ann Warren, Michael Lerner, Ben Feldman and Shiri Appleby -- gets its DVD release starting Aug. 22. That's just one of the current credits for the busy, beloved 84-year-old actor, who admits, "I didn't think I could come back, either. I had no voice, no sound." He's referring to losing a vocal cord to cancer in the early '90s, which seemed to put an end to his professional life -- until he defied the odds and worked his way into talking again. Klugman credits his friend and "The Odd Couple" cast mate, the late Tony Randall, as "mainly responsible" for getting him to perform again. "He said, 'Let's face it, Jack. You never did sound like Richard Burton anyway.'"
 
Klugman tells us that Randall's widow, Heather, and their 10-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son were temporary neighbors of his last month, when they rented a home in the Malibu colony. "I saw her and the kids, who are just as cute as can be. We talked mostly about Tony. She's really a great gal. She deals only with the truth. I love her." He also reports that mutual friend Garry Marshall, "who invented nepotism, put the kids in a barbeque scene in the movie he's making now." That's "Georgia Rule" with Jane Fonda, Felicity Huffman and the notorious Lindsay Lohan.
 
As for Jack, he has commitments to do "The Value of Names," a play about the blacklist of the 1950s, onstage in New Jersey, and for his one-man stage show as well. "My voice works best onstage, strangely enough. Audiences adjust to it," he says. As for "When Do We Eat?" he says, "That picture and '12 Angry Men' were the two movies I enjoyed making most. This one's a dysfunctional Jewish family at a Passover dinner, and they give the head of the household an ecstasy pill. Believe me," he adds, "it's not promoting drugs."
 
ON THE PERSONAL SIDE:

Courteney Cox Arquette is open about the fact she started therapy three months ago, crediting pal Laura Dern for guiding her into it. Dern "sat me down and said, 'OK, this is going to be a big year for you; here's a list of things you need to do.' One of them was to write down all the things I liked about myself. She saw that I was being too frenetic -- that I wasn't enjoying life as I should. I didn't know it, but she could see it as a friend. Then she said, 'I want you to go see my therapist,'" Courteney opens up to Life magazine, in its next issue. She goes on to say, "I'm a great caretaker. But one thing I'm not good at is taking care of myself. My goal for this part of my life's to be more nurturing to myself."
 
CELEBRITY SCENE:

What a super-eclectic assortment of celebrities turned out to see Maureen McGovern and company at Broadway L.A.'s presentation of "Little Women" at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood -- from former child stars Jane Withers and Margaret O'Brien to improv actress of the hour, Wendi McLendon-Covey (of cable's "Reno 911!" and "Lovespring International" series), to such names as Joe Mantegna, Earl Holliman, Judy Tenuta, Shirley Jones and Jo Anne Worley. The show runs through the weekend.

(With reports by Stephanie DuBois and Emily Feimster)