This Is Us fans have a soft spot for Dr. K. The kind-hearted obstetrician, played by veteran actor Gerald McRaney, was a pivotal part of the first season of the hit NBC drama, delivering of the most epic lines in the pilot episode when he advised grieving father Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia) to find a way to make lemonade out of the sourest lemons life has to offer.
That piece of advice prompted a distraught Jack to convince his wife, Rebecca (Mandy Moore), that they should adopt an abandoned newborn after losing one of their triplets during childbirth. The couple ultimately named their three newborn babies Kevin, Kate, and Kyle after Dr. K. (Kyle’s name was later changed to Randall after a poetry book written by Dudley Randall, at the suggestion of his birth father.)
The bulk of This Is Us Season 1 episode, “The Big Day,” was even devoted to McRaney’s character and his backstory when viewers got to see the widower in the hours leading up to his arrival at the hospital to deliver the Pearson triplets. With appearances in five episodes last season, Dr. K is as much a part of This Is Us as any of the main characters are.
Now, at age 70, Gerald McRaney has been awarded his first-ever Emmy Award as Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for the role of Dr. Nathan Katowski. According to Deadline , during his acceptance speech at the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony, McRaney thanked This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman for writing “such a beautiful show,” and director Ken Olin for directing the nominated episode “The Big Day.” Gerald also thanked the entire This Is Us cast, especially Ventimiglia and Moore, whom he said are “simultaneously my colleagues and my masters.”
Of course, all of this love for Dr. K has fans wondering if the good doctor will make an appearance in the upcoming second season of This Is Us . At this point, even McRaney is in the dark about the future of his character.
“I have no idea,” Gerald said, according to Deadline .
“I hope Dr. K makes another appearance, but if he doesn’t I’m fine with that, because it was such a joy to have been on this show and to have been a part of it. But I am not going to try and persuade Dan to write something for me. You don’t mess with perfection.”
Gerald McRaney has long praised the This Is Us writing team and cast, saying the role doesn’t even feel like a job.
“It’s one of the better characters that I’ve ever done,” Gerald told TV Guide .
“The writing is so good and the whole concept is so rich. It’s just a joy for me to come in and do it. I told Milo on the way in that I am so successfully avoiding real work. As long as you do something like this, it’s not a job.”
McRaney has also revealed that it was easy for him to get into character for his Emmy-winning scene, which had him kneeling at the gravesite of Dr. K’s dead wife.
“All I had to do was imagine losing my wife, and when I did that, the only problem I had was regaining my composure when the tape was over,” McRaney told reporters. “If I imagine losing Delta I’m completely lost.”
Gerald McRaney has been married to actress Delta Burke since 1989, after meeting her on the set of CBS’ Designing Women.
Take a look at Gerald McRaney’s Emmy-winning This Is Us scene below.
[Featured Image by Ron Batzdorff/NBC]
