Greg Pratt
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Greg Pratt | |
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First appearance | 2002 |
Information | |
Gender | Male |
Year of birth | 1974 or 1975 |
Occupation | ED Attending Physician |
Family | Charlie Pratt (Father), Chaz Pratt (Half-brother) |
Portrayed by | Mekhi Phifer |
Dr. Gregory "Greg" Pratt is a fictional medical doctor on the television show ER, played by Mekhi Phifer. His character is a hot-headed African-American struggling with his racial identity and cloudy past.
Pratt first appeared late in Season 8 in the episode "Orion in the Sky" (2002), as a cocky, overconfident intern who's sure he's seen it all. He meets and is mentored by Mark Greene who was wrapping up his last day at County. Just beginning his residency and having much maturing and learning to do, Pratt was always stepping up showing much leadership and quick precision. Yet due to his limited experience, this often led Pratt to collide with his chief resident John Carter and other attendings over many occasions, including rescuscitating an already pronounced patient. During the critical small pox outbreak and evacuation gone awry, Pratt proves his skills and courage as a swift emergency physician as the entire hospital is thrown into chaos.
In Season 9 as a series regular, Dr. Gregory Pratt had a brief hot/cold relationship with a fellow physician, Dr. Jing-Mei "Deb" Chen that was steady for a while. He even got to meet her parents, who were quite stubborn and not impressed with Jing-Mei's decision. It was revealed that Pratt had a mentally handicapped step brother living with him. He often got into trouble and would disrupt Pratt's professional and personal life. Carter suggested his brother live away for a while, leaving Pratt with some room to breathe, seeing that it was wearing him down emotionally and at work. A very hard decision sent his step brother away to stay with other family. Still, Pratt feels he's done the best for his stepbrother, not for himself.
Through Season 10, the road has been bumpy for Pratt and Chen. Certain things including Chen catching Pratt harmlessly flirting with new medical student Neela Rasgotra led to a lot of uneasiness in the relationship. However, a tragic car accident in China, which killed her mother, forced Jing-Mei's depressed and severely injured father to move to Chicago to live with his Americanized daughter. After several refusals from house-nurses, Chen was forced to slack off on her duties in the ER to care for her sometimes-abusive father who lashed out her in fits of delirium. Pratt's relationship with Dr. Chen began to diminish. Pratt was also involved in a drive-by shooting while driving Dr. Chen and a patient that Pratt befriended. Pratt's brand new car was forced off a bridge and the patient that Pratt had originally blown off, a passenger in the car, was killed. This was a real shock to Dr. Pratt, but helped ground him to become a much better active physician through the next seasons. Pratt's romantic relationship with Chen ultimately ended at a low but they remained good friends. He supported her when she was forced to put her father out of his misery, she soon left Pratt's life for good when Ming-Na left the show.
A very capable senior resident, he was backed by Doctor Susan Lewis for the post of Chief Resident, but not wanting the extra workload, he turned the post down, something he came to regret when it was awarded instead to a less-than-competent rival, Archie Morris. Dr. Pratt came to terms with his clouded past at the end of Season 11, making contact with the father who abandoned him Charlie Pratt (portrayed by Danny Glover).
Into Season 12, Many emotions flooded Pratt from rejection to anger which restrained him from making amends with his father. He also briefly dated a young neighborhood activist who Pratt could relate to about the level of gang violence among black teens. She later broke up with him for seeing someone else. Later after much counsel, Pratt began to accept his father's new family, but could never forgive Charlie and left his life without so much as a handshake.
In the episode, "Strange Bed Fellows," Dr. Kovac instructs Pratt to go to Africa to join Dr. John Carter. When Pratt challenges Luka and says he won't go, Luka threatens his job. Earlier, Pratt drew blood from himself to save a friend some jail time for drunk driving, a crime that Pratt admitted to Kovac. By going out to Africa to join Dr. Carter, Pratt essentially re-earns his job. He also earns the opportunity to move up to the position of attending physician, which Dr. Victor Clemente cannot fulfill because of illness. When Pratt returned, he felt great about the service he provided overseas but was hurt bad by the news of his friend's death (Dr. Michael Gallant).
At the start of season 13, Pratt is proud of finally achieving his new title as attending, but discovers the downsides with the busy hours and juggling numerous interns including the wise guy new intern Tony Gates, whom Pratt clashed with many times in the ER. In his personal life, his half-brother from his father's new family moves in with him. Pratt thinks it'll be good to bond with the brother he never had. However, after finding him in a compromising position with another guy, Pratt feels betrayed. After much denial, a talk with Weaver, and even his brother personally coming out to him, Pratt learns the truth about his brother's homosexuality. He has learned to accept this, knowing that their relationship and trust is more important to maintain.
Later in the season, Pratt discovers a church holding an illegal drug exchange program between church members. Pratt tries to reason with the pastor to seek better alternatives. With no one convinced, Gregory feels he must take steps to at least make the program more efficient and safer. He volunteers to donate some narcotics from the ER with the help of medical student Hope. This only lands Pratt in deep water when one of the members of the church unexpectedly dies from the result of the drug exchange. This jumpstarts an investigation by the police and social work. Pratt comes out to his chief Dr. Kovac, telling him he acted alone, thus saving Hope's career and preventing any risk that could fall down on the entire department. Pratt is arrested by the police and is put before the review board for his actions. Surprisingly, Pastor Watkins of First Mission Baptist and his congregation show up on Pratt's behalf and explain the entire story of his significant contribution. The board dismisses Pratt from any suspension that could have claimed his medical license and his job at County.
ER | |
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Official NBC website | Quotes | |
Current characters |
Ray Barnett | Tony Gates | Abby Lockhart | Archie Morris | Luka Kovač | Gregory Pratt | Neela Rasgotra | Samantha Taggart |
Former characters |
Peter Benton | Jeanie Boulet | John Carter | Deb Chen | Elizabeth Corday | Anna Del Amico | Cleo Finch | Michael Gallant | Mark Greene | Carol Hathaway | Lucy Knight | Susan Lewis | Dave Malucci | Robert Romano | Doug Ross | Kerry Weaver |
Episodes | List of ER episodes | Pilot |
Other reading | Notable guest stars |