James Pickens Jr. as Dr. Richard Webber

Dr. Richard Webber is the Chief of Surgery of Seattle Grace Hospital. He started his struggling medical career in the very same hospital he eventually headed. After serving in Seattle Grace, he transferred to New York where he trained residents while still practicing surgery.

While he was still a resident at Seattle Grace, he engaged in an affair with fellow resident, Dr. Ellis Grey. Ellis is the mother of Dr. Meredith Grey, who eventually became one of the interns in the same hospital. After some time, Richard found out that Ellis left her husband for him, but when she asked him to do the same, Richard refused and decided to stay with his wife, Adele. After his residency, he left Seattle Grace, but what happened after is still unclear. What is apparent is his history with divorced couple Dr. Derek Shepherd and Dr. Addison Montgomery, both of whom he met when he was in New York. He was reunited with Derek and Addison when he returned to Seattle Grace to serve as its Chief of Surgery.

On the outside, Richard appears strong and unfazed, but gradually, as more and more personal information about his past and present are exposed, it becomes clear that he is also dealing with numerous issues. Webber was, at one point in his life, an alcoholic. His beloved niece, Camille Travis, is in the last stages of ovarian cancer. His wife, Adele, whom he refused to leave for Ellis, ended up leaving him after she realized that Richard is more of a career man than a family man. Their separation forced him to take residence in the same hotel where Dr. Callie Torres is also living.

Then there was his unresolved feelings for Ellis, who, unfortunately, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Before Ellis reached the end of her fight with the disease, Richard spent some of his time at the hospital visiting her. On one fateful day, Meredith decided to check up on her mother, and when she got to the ward, she saw Richard with her mother. The nurse told Meredith that he had been visiting her regularly, which she found suspicious. Eventually, Meredith found out about Richard’s relationship with her mother.

Despite Richard’s problematic life, he has had a number of humorous and lighthearted moments. When he and intern Cristina Yang joined a seminar, they found themselves competing against one another. In the end, Richard’s vast knowledge and hands-on experiences were enough to put Cristina, who draws confidence from her Stanford training and book smarts, in her place. When Richard found out that Adele had already moved on with her life, he decided to start dating again, and the first thing he did was dye his hair, to the great delight of Dr. Derek Shepherd, Dr. Preston Burke and Dr. Mark Sloan.

(Photo courtesy of ABC)