The report of the death of Eric Dane has created a silent pain throughout the entertainment industry notably with the people who knew him not only as a co-star, but a family member. Kate Walsh, a longtime co-star in the legendary medical drama Grey’s Anatomy with Dane, recently posted an intensely personal tribute that brought back memories to the fans as to why he was so well-liked both on-screen and off. With the talk about Eric Dane still in full swing, it is the passionate words of Walsh that have provided most people with a chance to see the man behind the fame.
The death of Eric Dane on February 19 at age 53 has shake the entire Hollywood and among long time fans of the TV series, Gray Anatomy. The show that turned into a cultural sensation during the middle of the 2000s introduced the viewers to a group of characters that seemed real, flawed, and memorable. The character Dane played Dr. Mark Sloan commonly known as McSteamy, which made the show charismatic and deep. But to Walsh, his influence went a lot further than the camera lens.
Walsh did not seek to cleanse her mourning and beautify it with well-tuned words in her tribute. She was a frank writer, who wrote that she was not fluent enough to attempt to describe the grief surrounding the death of Eric. First and foremost, I am thinking of his girls and Rebecca and praying to them and my heart, she said. There was not just grief in those words, there was point of view, as well. In such a situation, the light goes away and all that is left is family, loss and love.
It was the beginning of a long and fruitful screen partnership between Walsh and Dane, as one of the most memorable scenes in the history of Grey Anatomy: an elevator ride that promised both future storyline and undeniable chemistry. Returning to the initial encounter, Walsh confessed that she had an immediate response. So handsome was he and I thought but can this guy act and he could and did and now it was a thing of the past. It is a line that seems almost playful in the present day, of the curiosity and surprise that frequently characterize the start of creative relationships.
The most remarkable thing about the remembrance of Walsh is not only the talent of Dane but his emotional level. She said he had more than leading-man looks with him. I liked the sensitivity and vulnerability in Eric, and intelligence of course, she said. Weakness is the quality that is less common in an industry that can compensate bravado and face a surface. The fact that Walsh focuses on this quality indicates that Dane was strong in his readiness to be emotional and to transfer this emotional integrity to his acting.
She did more, and characterized his presence in a way that addresses something quite intangible. He possessed the gravitas and old soul upon which his work was magnetic, and the advertisement made him a great friend off set. One cannot produce gravitas. It is based on experience, on sympathy, on some solidity which others have, as it were, innate faith in. When Walsh refers to the word magnetic, she directs at that silent attraction that certain individuals possess the capability to attract other people without making any effort to do it. It describes why fans related to him and why co-workers were attached to him.
The start of the story of Anatomy of Grey is infamously rough. The television of the era required long hours of shooting, fast production speed, and emotional energy of the actors. Walsh remembered that those trying times created strong ties between the actors. Like most network TV shows in those early days of Grey, we spent more time together than with anyone and, hence, had become a family of sorts and Eric was such a support system and source of love, she wrote. Every person who has ever worked in stressful situations knows that mutual fatigue is likely to lead to life-long friendship. The longer a cast spends awake time together than with their respective families, the more the boundaries become obfuscated and the relationships become enhanced.
To the audience, Eric Dane will never be forgotten as the sure-of-herself surgeon with a convoluted heart. His character development was that of a flirtatious arrogance to intense vulnerability, and such was the type of depth of storytelling that made the Anatomy of the angry man, Grey, such a hit. To the people behind the scenes though, he was a work mate who gave them the comfort they needed when they had to shoot all night, a friend to them and a father to his children. The tribute written by Walsh is delicate in balancing between those identities as it reminds the readers that the same man on screen was the man who had to deal with tender real life.
In recent years, the discourse has shifted towards actors being more introspective and conscious of the burden of fame and the price of being a human guinea pig. Dane experienced ups and downs in the Hollywood scene, and like most of them, his career was marked by extreme personal lows and highs. It is not tribute such as Walsh that shades over that complication; it is the recognition of the entire image. They also recognize the fact that greatness is usually accompanied by vulnerability, and that the combination of the two is what makes one memorable.
Something that is especially touching is when one of the co-stars can speak during times of loss. It has an authoritative quality that cannot be duplicated by a headline. Walsh makes his words grounded since they are based on mutual experience. She was present in the long days, the original table reads scenes that have been recorded in the history of television. Her praising is not in the form of a press release. It is as though a person was reminiscing about a friend.
With the industry and fans still lamenting the death of Eric Dane, the introspection of Walsh provides a soothing message of what is really lasting. Awards, ratings, and celebrity status are ultimately archived and rerun. All that is left are reports made by those one works with, acts of kindness remembered during personal discussions and the help provided at the time it was the most needed.
