Character Profiles: Dr. Harry Weston

Character Profiles: Dr. Harry Weston

Dr. Harry Weston is the show’s central character, a good-hearted pediatrician with a slightly bumbling style. At the start of the series, he is coping with both the loss of his beloved wife, Libby, who has died eighteen months earlier, and an empty nest. His three adult daughters are all living on their own.

His nest doesn’t stay empty for long, though, for two of his daughters soon move back home. Having spent the majority of his adult life building his medical career, Harry sees this as his chance to be a real father to the girls. He soon learns to play the fatherly role well and becomes a constant source of support and security for each of his children. Harry is a bit overprotective at times, fretting and fussing over the girls’ lives, but it’s all out of love. He often finds the most sympathetic ear from his enormous dog, Dreyfuss.

Without realizing it, Harry, now one of Miami’s most eligible bachelors, soon finds himself propelled back into the dating game. For a while he is a little reluctant at starting a new relationship, feeling that it is too soon after Libby’s death. He even manages to ward off man-hungry neighbor Blanche Devereaux (The Golden Girls). Over time, though, Harry does become comfortable with the idea of dating and before long has new dates frequently. Unfortunately, he never can seem to find that perfect lady.

Harry’s fatherly instincts also extend to his office at the Community Medical Center. He cares very deeply for each of his patients and doesn’t hesitate to go out of his way to help any of them (which includes buying one lonely patient a pet and offering to take another to her school dance). Of course his superb medical skills haven’t necessarily added to his organizational skills, for Nurse Laverne Todd views Harry has a sloppy, disorganized mess. No matter how hard he tries to prove her wrong, Laverne knows she’s the one who runs things at the office.

Harry sells his practice in the show’s sixth season with plans to retire – plans that are thwarted, though, when he is sent to evaluate an inner-city clinic in downtown Miami. He decides to put his retirement on hold and join Dr. Maxine Douglas in running the place, which he does for two years until, in the series finale, he is offered a teaching job in Vermont.

Harry | Barbara | Carol | Charley | Laverne | Patrick | Emily | Maxine | Sophia | Supporting