Reflecting on life, love after Grey’s Anatomy
T.R. Knight has avoided spotlight, but new role brings fresh attention
LOS ANGELES— Supporting players who break out on a hit series often walk away to headline their own show or try their luck on the big screen. Instead, T.R. Knight retreated.
The Minneapolis native has been tough to find since the 2009 season premiere of Grey’s Anatomy, when his lovable character Dr. George O’Malley was killed off, sacrificing himself to save a stranger from an oncoming bus. His appearance in the miniseries Genius: Picasso is only his 10th TV or film credit in the past nine years. He’s popped up mostly as a guest star in such network dramas as The Good Wife and Law & Order: SVU.
If he had remained on Grey’s, wouldn’t he be collecting a fat paycheque these days?
“Yeah, no doubt,” Knight, 45, said recently. “But going into acting, that was never the expectation. The hope was to pay the rent, even if you had to pay it a half-month late, which I did a lot.”
Lots of red-hot actors wax eloquent about returning to the theatre then cash in by punching the clock on CSI: Portland. Knight actually followed through, treading the boards in productions of Parade, A Life in the Theatre, Romeo and Juliet and It’s Only a Play after five seasons on Grey’s. He seemed to be making a statement, a theory the actor is quick to dismiss.
“I think you’re giving me too much credit for any sort of control I have,” he said. “Yes, I made a decision to move to New York and focus on theatre, but I still did some television. I’m not in control of who hires me. But I think a part of me will always focus on theatre. It’s too much a part of my upbringing.”
By 2003, Knight had starred opposite Patti LuPone in a Broadway production of Noises Off and earned a Drama Desk nomination for his work in Scattergood.
He made a noble attempt to parlay that stage success into a mainstream, and more lucrative, career. But from the get-go, he seemed a reluctant celebrity.
His avoidance of the spotlight only grew after Grey’s castmate Isaiah Washington was accused of an anti-LGBTQ slur against Knight. Washington was eventually fired from the series and Knight, who hadn’t come out yet, felt forced to address his sexual orientation.
One part of his past Knight has never gotten over is his decision to leave university after just a few months to commit himself to acting. While he doesn’t regret the move, it’s often in the back of his mind, especially when he gets a role like the one he has in Genius: Picasso. He plays Max Jacob, a poet, painter and critic who was an influential figure in the French avantgarde and one of Picasso’s oldest friends; he died in Gestapo custody in 1944.
Antonio Banderas plays the title role in the National Geographic show. Knight appeared briefly in that first season as J. Edgar Hoover.