Guest Stars News (Page 7)

A source with close ties to Seattle Grace tells TV Guide's Michael Ausiello that Jeffrey Dean Morgan is returning to Grey's Anatomy as Izzie's late fiancé in an episode to air later this season.

Since Denny clearly passed away back in May, it seems safe to assume that he'll appear in either a dream sequence or a newly created flashback.

Of course, if Shonda Rhimes wants to get really creative, she could read some of our fan suggestions on how (and if) Denny should come back to life.

TV Guide offers a few humorous options:

• Kenny. Denny's long-lost (and evil) twin. Just as Izzie is starting to feel get over Denny, her ill-fated soul mate's brother shows up to reclaim the $8.7 million inheritance!
• Ghost of Denny. At the opening ceremonies of the Denny Duquette Memorial Clinic, his spirit appears just in time to cut the ribbon. Poignant.
• An Alien. Okay, so this isn't the X-Files. But some of you may recall that while guest starring as Izzie's love, Jeffrey Dean Morgan was also a regular on the WB series Supernatural. Katherine Heigl, for her part, once starred on Roswell. Think about it.

Can you think of any other possible scenarios - serious or crazy - that may bring our beloved Jeffrey Dean Morgan back to Grey's Anatomy? Leave us a comment and share.

If you happen to bump into Kate Burton after watching Grey's Anatomy tonight, don't tell her what happens.

The Boston Globe reports that the actress, who plays mom to Boston-area native Ellen Pompeo on the ABC show, doesn't have TiVo, and will be in Boston tonight, starring in "The Cherry Orchard" at the Huntington Theatre.

But the Broadway star and Emmy-nominated portrayer of Alzheimer's-afflicted Dr. Ellis Grey knows there's something big in store.

"There are some big surprises. I can tell you that this is the one episode where you will see more of [me] than you've ever seen before," Burton told the Globe. "But we really don't know where it goes. They don't tell us, so we won't tell all of you."

In her downtime, the daughter of Richard Burton and Sybil Williams said she's been flying back and forth to L.A. to see her husband, former Williamstown (Mass.) Theatre Festival producer Michael Ritchie.

We're looking forward to seeing the talented Burton's return to Grey's Anatomy tonight, and learning where that story line leads.

An overwhelming number of you have inquired as to the identity of the guest actresses portraying the Amish girls in last week's amazing "Great Expectations."

There's no doubt that Jessica Stroup (Jilly Miller, right) and Rachel Boston (Rachel, below) both turned in terrific performances.

You may have recognized Boston, 24, as Beth Mason on American Dreams. She has also guest starred on The Closer and 7th Heaven, and has appeared in several movies. In 1999, she was crowned Miss Teen Tennessee!

Stroup has appeared in, among others, the films The Hills Have Eyes 2, School for Scoundrels, Southern Comfort, and Pray For Morning.

Hopefully we'll be seeing more from these lovely young ladies in the coming years. We're planning on revamping our outdated guest stars section in the near future, so it includes information like this about some of each week's terrific compelling guest performers.

As Ellen Pompeo pointed out the other night at the SAG Awards, they bring so much to the series week in and week out.

Just when you thought the Grey's Anatomy cast had gotten as big as it could - it started with nine, then grew to include Kate Walsh, Sara Ramirez and Eric Dane - TV Guide is reporting it could be adding a new member.

Elizabeth Reaser, 31, is slated to guest star on the show this season, with the door left open for her joining the cast full-time.

She has a long list of TV and film credits (which you can view here), which include a starring role on the TNT medical drama Saved.

After graduating from Juilliard School of Drama, she struggled to find work at first, but landed a part on the daytime drama Guiding Light, and since has become an accomplished film, television, and stage actress, landing numerous supporting and leading roles.

What will bring this actress to Seattle Grace, and how long will she stick around? As usual, we'll have to wait and see.

As the year draws to a close, Michael Slezak of Entertainment Weekly looks back at three of TV's most memorable TV characters... who met their maker in 2006. One of them is none other than our own Denny Duquette, the heart patient and fiancé of Izzie (Katherine Heigl), played so masterfully by Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

Here's his brief obituary:

Closet millionaire Denny Duquette died during May sweeps from complications following heart transplant surgery at Seattle Grace Hospital. He is survived by a fiancée, Isobel "Izzie" Stevens, a surgical intern who may have contributed to his death prior to attending a prom. (Don't ask.)

More importantly, though, Denny leaves behind a blueprint for how men can look hot and stubbly while stricken and attached to tubes, heart monitors, and even LVAD machines.

We miss you, Denny. We miss you.

He lives! Today's People Magazine features a picture of Uma Thurman riding off in a blaze of glory alongside co-star Jeffrey Dean Morgan on the set of her film, The Accidental Husband, in Greenwich, Conn., on Tuesday.

Morgan, as many Grey's Anatomy fans know very well, endeared himself to millions as ill-fated heart patient Denny Duquette in Season 2.

The love interest turned fiance of Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl) passed away in the season finale. Hopefully his short, but memorable time on Grey's Anatomy was just the beginning of many great things for this talented and handsome actor!

In reprising the character of Erica Hahn, a no-fills, abrasive and brilliant heart surgeon seen at the end of Season 2, Brooke Smith was one of the many highlights of last Thursday's thrilling episode, "From a Whisper to a Scream."

We're not sure how long she'll be sticking around - although we do know she will appear in this week's "Don't Stand So Close to Me" - we thought you might like to know a little about this talented actress.

Growing up in New York, in the shadow of show business as the daughter of powerful publicist Lois Smith, Brooke's big break came as Catherine Martin, the abducted young girl in The Silence of the Lambs.

Other key roles included Sonya in Louis Malle's Vanya on 42nd Street, as well as Dawn in Daniel Minahan's Series 7: The Contenders. Her TV credits include Law & Order, Six Feet Under, Heist and Crossing Jordan. Smith, 39, has more than three dozen movie and TV credits to her name.

Whether she is humming a Tom Petty tune, like her character does in Silence of the Lambs, or showing a different side of pregnancy as she did in Series 7, Smith is known for giving brooding, intense performances - as Grey's Anatomy fans have seen from the four episodes she's appeared in.

In addition to acting, she also enjoys filmmaking. She has directed a short film and a feature length documentary, and published interviews with actors Steve Buscemi, Ed Harris and Fred Ward (who also guest starred on Grey's Anatomy this year as Denny, Sr.), among others.

A medical school rival and frequent adversary (but nonetheless, respected colleague) of Preston Burke, Dr. Hahn adds yet another dynamic presence to Seattle Grace Hospital. Hopefully we get to see more of her.

In the pilot episode of NBC's Friday Night Lights, the retired coach of a winning high school football team warns his young replacement:

"With expectations like this, the only place you can go is down. That's the problem with being this good."

It is a line of dialogue that has proved haunting to the show's star, Kyle Chandler, who plays that inexperienced coach.

Chandler, who won many accolades for his performance as bomb squad captain Dylan Young on the two-part, post-Super Bowl episode of Grey's Anatomy last season, has had to fight to keep his spirits up in the face of low ratings, despite Friday Night Lights' critical praise.

Although the show's numbers were up last week -- 6.6 million viewers from 5.9 million the week before -- it still got brutally tackled by CBS' NCIS (15.9 million) and ABC's Dancing With the Stars (21.3 million). Lights' fourth episode (of nine filmed so far) airs tonight.

Chandler, using a football metaphor, is hopeful.

"I know we got a damn good team and can make it through the season," says one of Grey's Anatomy's most memorable guest stars in his Georgian drawl, which has become more pronounced while shooting Lights in Austin. "We're slowly moving the ball down the field. That's why I'll do anything to keep this show on the air."

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Looks like McVet is officially out of the picture.

A Grey's Anatomy fan has alerted us to the fact that recurring guest star Chris O'Donnell is busy filming his new movie, The Company, in Toronto, Ont. -- and sporting a markedly different look from that of Finn Dandridge.

We're hoping that Chris' baldness is part of his character (which is likely, seeing that he plays a CIA operative) and not his regular look. Some guys can pull it off, but he does shaggy batter.

The Company is a mini-series that traces CIA activities over a 40-year period, from the beginning of the Cold War through the demise of the Soviet Union. We're sad that Chris has left the world of Grey's Anatomy, but look forward to following his career as he embarks on new endeavors.

Thursday night's episode, "I Am a Tree," was a stellar one, marking the return of the Grey's Anatomy we know and love. We thought you'd like to read an excerpt from episode's writer, Krista Vernoff, who talks about it on the show's official writers blog.

Specifically, we were fascinated by the fact that the episode's memorable, brutally honest brain tumor patient, Benjamin, was played by Peter Paige (pictured below), one of Krista's best friends in life. Peter is also directing a new play written by Krista. See below!

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Finally, I have to take a moment to write to you about Benjamin. Oh my God, he broke my heart -- and not just because the actor who played him, the brilliant and multi-talented Peter Paige -- has been one of my very best friends for the last 20 years.

When they had to shock his heart on the table, I burst into tears -- and not just cause I’m four months pregnant and everything makes me cry and it almost killed me to see my Peter looking like he was maybe dying.

I love Benjamin because he makes me laugh. And he really made me think, just like he made Meredith think, about how much we should really run around all day controlling every impulse we have in favor of being "polite."

I mean, life is short, people die. If your hair conditioner isn’t working, don’t you want some to tell you? I know my Peter Paige tells me, which is why he’s my best friend.

Finally, I’m going to take this opportunity for a moment of unadulterated self-promotion. A play I wrote, "Me, My Guitar and Don Henley" is opening in New York on October 7 in a tiny little theatre in the East Village.

If you are an East Coast dwelling theatre-goer and you like my episodes of Grey’s Anatomy and you like my rambling and over-sharing, I think you will like my play, which is, coincidentally, directed by Peter Paige and includes a large amount of over-sharing.

If you don’t like my rambling and over sharing? Like, if you’re about to write to me and go, "Stupid Krista! Why do you think we CARE about you and your stupid life? GEEZ -- we wanna hear more about Meredith cause you’re stupid, you dummy" -- then you probably shouldn’t come see my play.

NOTE: If you do, here's the link.