"When you do a series and you do television like that for so many years, so much of the character is similar to yourself," he said. "Writers pick up on things that you do that they add to the character. I'll never be as smart as Dr. Greene, but there's a lot of familiarity in who he is. I think that bottom-line thing that I always cared the most about him was there, which is that he really loved being a doctor. So that's not a hard thing to jump back into."

He has a theory about why the character was so popular.

"I used to joke ... that people would watch Greene and think, 'You know what, my life will never be that bad,"' Edwards said with a laugh. "He always had problems, you know, whether it was with dating or women, or relationship with his daughter, or work and bosses. And, ultimately, dying. I mean, he really just had so many kinds of struggles that I think people all related to in a way."

And, fortunately for the show, Edwards looks pretty much the same at 46 that he did at 40 when he left the show.

"When I look at those pictures (from Season 1), I go, 'Oh my (gosh), I was a baby when I was 32.' So I've aged less from 40 to 46. And, luckily, because I do run, I haven't put on any extra poundage. And the fact is he's going through chemo so we had a little flexibility of what Dr. Greene could look like.

"But from what I saw, it works really well. I don't think you'd think, 'Oh my (gosh), there's an old guy playing Dr. Greene again."'

Edwards said he understood why other members of the "ER" cast who have left the show over the years have been reluctant to return because "when you're a part of something you feel like you did so well, you kind don't want to screw it up. I think there's a natural respect for this show."

The financial security "ER" gave him made it possible for Edwards to work a lot less over the past six years and spend a lot of time with his wife and children. And, while he admits he hasn't kept up with the show, he has never entirely left it behind.

"Television lives on," he said. "It's like I'm reminded of it every day. People are always stopping me here or all around the world. ... And so he kind of lives in other people, too."

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com