Richard Webber, M.D. is a fictional character from the ABC medical drama
television series Grey's Anatomy. The character is portrayed by actor James
Pickens, Jr., and was created by Shonda Rhimes. He was previously the Chief of
Surgery at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital for 11 years, and was replaced
by Owen Hunt. Background
Richard married his wife, Adele on Valentine's Day. During their residency
at Seattle Grace, he had an affair with Meredith's mother, Ellis Grey, although
both were married. Although Ellis left her husband, Richard could not bring
himself to leave his wife, Adele. He confessed in a later episode that he
ended the affair because he believed that Ellis deserved better and that he
had too much baggage. After completing his residency, Richard left Seattle
Grace to complete his fellowship. There are continuity errors regarding where
exactly Richard built his career; at one point he states that with the exception
of his fellowship, he spent his entire career at Seattle Grace. However, it is
also established that he both taught and befriended Addison and Derek, presumably
in New York. He graduated from Northwestern University
Storylines The enigmatic Chief of Surgery at
Seattle Grace is a leading figure in the show. Always vigilant, seeking and
trying new things, his ambition is to see Seattle Grace as the top surgical
program in the country. This sometimes leads him to take daring decisions, at
the beginning of first season the Surgical Program is presented as one of
the best in the United States. Later in the series his wife Adele asks him to
retire, forcing him to choose between his career or their marriage. He tries
to skirt around it, but Adele, tired of waiting, makes her choice and leaves
him. He moves out and sleeps in his office for a short time. Since learning
of Ellis Grey's illness, Richard had been visiting her regularly, but upon
deciding to attempt a reconciliation with Adele, he realizes that he can no
longer continue his emotional affair with Ellis. He attempts to patch things
up with his wife, but is stunned to find out that she has apparently moved on to
someone else. In the meantime, Richard makes plans to retire and must name his
successor. He first thought of recommending Dr. Preston Burke as his
successor, but after the secret of Burke's tremor and cover-up came out,
that plan is put to a stand-still. Nevertheless, he tells the hospital
board of his retirement but has yet to name his successor; Dr. Derek Shepherd,
Preston, Dr. Addison Montgomery and Dr. Mark Sloan all eagerly clamoring for the
post. Richard eventually chooses Derek, but Derek tells him that Richard should
remain chief. Near the end of the third season, Adele
is admitted to the hospital and is discovered to be pregnant. Though he
believes the father to be the man Adele insinuated to be seeing months earlier,
Richard stays by Adele's side as she is treated. However, due to complications,
she loses the baby. Adele later admits to Richard that the baby, which was a
boy, was actually his. At the conclusion of the third season, Richard and Adele
decide to give their marriage another try.
At the beginning of the fourth season, Richard and Adele declare that his work
is the reason that their marriage has failed and separate. He consequently
moves in with his friend Derek Shepherd in his trailer home and tries to repair
his life as a divorcé for the remainder of the season until, by the end, he
reasserts his good reputation to his wife and wins her back.
At the start of the fifth season, Richard starts to deal with the fact
that Seattle Grace's surgical program ranking has been suffering. Determined
to repair his hospital's reputation, he has become determined to enforce a new
tougher series of hospital rules. Adding to his new behavior, he seems to
becoming more and more agitated by Meredith Grey's presence in his life as
she is a reminder to him of every mistake he has made over the years. Over
the course of the season, he becomes resentful of his mentee in General
Surgery, Dr. Bailey's decision to leave the General Surgery program to embark
upon a fellowship in Pediatric Surgery and attempts to prevent it in any way
possible; he gives her an uninspiring letter of recommendation and buys a
surgical robot for General Surgery to "lure" Dr. Bailey back to the program.
However, as he finally comes to terms with Dr. Bailey's choice, she confides
to the Chief that her husband has left her with an ultimatum - if she takes the
fellowship in Pediatrics, he will divorce her. Dr. Bailey tells the Chief
that she has decided that she will leave her husband herself, but that she still
cannot take the Pediatrics fellowship, because she will now be a single mother.
In the sixth season he has been under a lot of stress. In the episode "New
History" most of the people believe he is having an affair due to his odd
decisions and mistakes lately, but it is revealed at the end of the episode that
the chief has gone back to drinking again. At first, he tells Meredith, who
he has taken under his wing to help out learning new skills, that he wasn't an
alcoholic, but rather in a state of depression, and he promised that his
eggnog at Christmas would be his last drink. However Meredith discovers him at
the bar very drunk, showing that he has indeed relapsed. He was given the choice
by Derek and the Board, to retire early or enter a rehab program where he would
receive help for his drinking, and possibly gain his job back. Richard
contemplated throwing away his career, which caused him and Derek to get in a
shouting match. He later handed Derek the papers agreeing to enter Rehab.
After rehab, Richard returns as a General Surgery attending and performs
awake surgery on Harper Avery. On the day of shooting, he enters the hospital
against police orders and convinces Gary Clarke to shoot himself.
Following the shooting, Derek impulsively quits as Chief and Richard
is re-instated. It appears that his wife Adele is starting to show early symptoms
of Alzheimer's and he starts a diabetes clinical trial based on Ellis' diaries.
When he asks Meredith to be a part of his trial, she declines and joins
Derek's trial on Alzeihmer's instead. Adele later receives a spot on Derek's
trial. During the trial, Meredith tampers with the drugs so that Adele
does not receive the placebo. After the truth is revealed which causes Meredith
to lose her job, Richard takes the blame and steps down as chief of surgery to
protect her, being replaced by Dr. Owen Hunt. As Adele's condition deteriorates,
Richard is forced to have her placed at Rose Ridge. Catherine Avery comes to
Seattle and develops an interest in Richard but he refuses her advances
because he is a married man. However, discovering that Adele, who does not
recognize him anymore, has started a relationship with a new man at Rose
Ridge, he lets her go. As the last year of residency is coming to a close, the
residents take medical boards in San Francisco, which are supervised by
Richard and Catherine. When Richard and Catherine run into each other in the
hotel where they are staying, they have a one-night stand.
While on the way to Bailey's wedding, Richard gets a phone call alerting him
that Adele has been rushed to the hospital. Bailey and Meredith perform
emergency surgery, which was successful. However, it is revealed that Adele died
of a heart attack while recovering in the ICU. He later embarks on a
relationship with Catherine. A storm hits the hospital and creates a
power outage. After operating on a former case of Bailey, he goes in the
electrical room and finds the man who was in charge of the generators lying on
the ground. He sends him to an OR and stays in the room to restore the power
but is seemingly electrocuted. Richard slowly recovers from being
electrocuted after putting Meredith as his POA. Richard returns to work and is
given a retirement package from Hunt on his birthday. Richard accepts to become
the head of the residency program mentoring the residents. He continues
his relationship with Catherine and plans to propose. Richard chats with Dr.
Maggie Pierce after her first day at Grey Sloan Memorial who says that it was
surreal to work at a place where, Ellis Grey, her birth mother, has the same
name. Maggie bears a striking resemblance to Richard, suggesting that
he is her father. As series 11 progresses, it is revealed
through moments of from Meredith that Maggie is in fact Richard's daughter,
and that Ellis gave her up out of shame and suffering from depression. Upon
finding out the truth Richard doesn't tell Maggie the news straight away out
of fear Maggie will reject and blame him for giving her up. This causes Richard
to act strangely around her, causing Miranda Bailey to wonder if he is
sleeping with her, Richard correcting her on this mistake causes other members
of staff to find out the truth before Maggie. After the truth is revealed
Maggie is angry with Richard and ignores and rebuffs him for some time. Later on
in the season the pair are seen to have bonded and are now friends, with Richard
and Meredith sharing stories with Maggie about Ellis.
References External links
Richard Webber at the Internet Movie Database
Grey's Anatomy at ABC.com