Hugh Laurie was on his way to Olympic gold. But illness got in the way

Wikipedia has articles about other people with the last name Laurie.

James Hugh Calum Laurie

(eng. James Hugh Calum Laurie; born June 11, 1959) is an English actor, director, singer, musician, comedian and writer. He became famous for his roles in the British comedy television series Blackadder, The Fry and Laurie Show and Jeeves and Wooster with Stephen Fry, as well as the role of the title character in the American television series House. Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)[1].

early years

Hugh Laurie was born in the English city of Oxford[2] in the family of doctor Ran Laurie[2][3] and housewife Patricia[2][4]. Hugh Laurie's parents are Scottish.

The youngest of four children, he also has a brother and two sisters[5]. Attended the Scottish Presbyterian Church[2][6]. Studied at prestigious private schools: Oxford primary school Dragon School

and Eton.

In 1981 he graduated from the University of Cambridge (George Selwyn College) with a third-class bachelor's degree in anthropology and archaeology.[2] At the university, during a forced break from sports training after infectious mononucleosis, he began to participate in the activities of the amateur theater “Footlights Dramatic Club”, where fellow student actors Emma Thompson and Stephen Fry became his regular colleagues. Laurie will be associated with the latter by working together on stage and on television for many years.

Hugh Laurie: biography

Hugh Laurie is a British actor, familiar to audiences all over the world from the television series House.

, “Jeeves and Wooster”, “Black Adder” and the joint entertainment program “The Fry and Laurie Show” with Stephen Fry. In addition, Laurie is also known as a professional pianist, director, writer and singer.

Hugh, whose full name is James Hugh Calum, was born in the ancient British city of Oxford. His father, Ran Laurie, was a doctor by profession and also an amateur athlete. He even won an Olympic gold medal in 1948 in rowing. Mom Patricia took care of the house and raising four children, of whom Hugh was the youngest.

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Hugh Laurie in his youth

Laurie went to a private primary school and then studied at Britain's most prestigious school for boys, Eton. There, following the example of his father, he became interested in rowing, won domestic competitions among juniors and represented Great Britain at the World Championships, where he took fourth place in the pairs competition.

The future actor received his higher education at Cambridge University, studying anthropology and archeology. He did not give up the sport, he was intensely involved in rowing, then received a serious injury, which did not allow him to continue training.

Then Hugh joined a theater club and began acting in amateur performances. At the student theater "Footlights Dramatic Club" Laurie met Emma Thompson and Stephen Fry. Both of these people will mean a lot in his future life.

Actor Hugh Laurie

Receiving a diploma in archaeology, the young man already knew that he would not need it for its intended purpose. Hugh Laurie's professional acting biography began suddenly. Together with friends from the amateur theater, he staged the comedy “Basement Tapes” on the stage of the West End Theater. And thanks to the fact that the production was broadcast on television and was a huge success, the trio of Laurie, Fry and Thompson instantly became famous.

Career

In 1981, he became president of this theater. After university, Laurie, Fry and Thompson wrote and directed the comedy The Cellar Tapes, which won them their first theater award and a contract to broadcast plays from a West End theater in 1982.

Laurie's nationwide success came with the release of the comedy series Blackadder (1983–89), in which he played the roles of various characters (Stephen Fry and Rowan Atkinson also starred in the series). Together with Fry, Laurie also participated in the television comedy “The Fry and Laurie Show” (1989-1995). At the same time, they worked on a film adaptation of Wodehouse’s humorous stories about Jeeves (the television series “Jeeves and Wooster” was released in 1990-1993). It was the role of Bertie Wooster, a frivolous aristocrat, that, according to critics and fans, most fully embodied the actor’s talent and style. The series was filled with ragtime music performed by Laurie himself (the actor also periodically performs on stage with a rock band).

In addition to working on television, Hugh Laurie has also acted in films since the mid-1990s, but usually in small roles: “Sense and Sensibility” (1995), “101 Dalmatians” (1996), “The Man in the Iron Mask” (1998) , a remake of the film “Flight of the Phoenix” (2004). In the film Anything Is Possible, Baby (2000), Laurie played the main role. He also starred in Annie Lennox's video for the song "Walking on Broken Glass" and Kate Bush's video for the song "Experiment IV".

Laurie in 2009

Despite his heavy work on television in the 1990s, Hugh Laurie still managed to find time to play a small role in the popular American series Friends. He can be seen at the end of the episode The One With Ross's Wedding - Part 2. Hugh Laurie plays one of the passengers on the plane Rachel is flying on[7].

Hugh Laurie has contributed to several audiobook recordings, including Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, and Three Men and a Dog by Jerome K. Jerome.

In addition to acting and musical activities, Laurie is also a writer: in 1996, the best-selling novel “The Gun Seller” was published.

In 2004, Hugh Laurie radically changed his role by accepting an offer to star in the title role in the American television series House. Laurie plays a gloomy but brilliant misanthrope doctor (in this role Laurie imitates an American accent so well that most viewers, including the producer himself, at first did not suspect that the actor was from England). House brought him two Golden Globes and fame in the United States, where almost no one knew him before the series.

In 2007, Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain awarded the actor the title of Officer of the Order of the British Empire[8], and in 2020 - Commander[9] of this order.

In 2014, Hugh Laurie voiced the role of Newton in the video game LittleBigPlanet 3[10]

Sports career

Hugh's father, Ran Laurie, who won a gold medal at the 1948 London Olympics in the coxless doubles, became his sporting idol. Starting at school and continuing at Eton and Cambridge, Hugh was involved in double rowing. In 1977 he won the British Junior Rowing Championships and represented Great Britain at the World Junior Championships, where he and his partner finished fourth. In 1980 he also competed for Cambridge in the famous Oxford-Cambridge Race.[11] Despite their team losing the race by just one and a half meters over a distance of 6,779 metres, Laurie received the prestigious Blue

.
A few months later, Laurie, along with Palmer (Eton Vikings team), took part in the Silver Goblets & Nickalls' Challenge Cup
held as part of the Henley Royal Regatta, where he took second place, losing the championship to the American team.

Laurie could potentially count on being included in the Great Britain team for the Olympic Games in Moscow, but in the end he did not make it into the team (in particular, Wiggin and Carmichael performed in the coxless doubles, who won the Silver Goblets & Nickalls' Challenge Cup

in 1979, in Moscow they won bronze Olympic medals).

Hugh Laurie is a member of one of the oldest rowing clubs, Leander Club

, of which his father was once president.

In football, he supports the London club Arsenal[12].

Auto-moto park

Hugh Laurie prefers to travel mainly on motorcycles;

• "Harley-Davidson - Fat Bob"[13].
• "Triumph Bonneville"[14].
• "Triumph 900 Scrambler"[13].
• "BMW K 1100 RS"[13].

Hugh also has cars in his garage: a Porsche Cayman S, a red collectible vintage Porsche 911 Classic from the early years of production[15] and a red 1966 Ford Galaxie Convertible[16].

FAMILY BONDS

It seems that from childhood, Hugh went to his doctor without even knowing it. Father, Ran Laurie, was involved in rowing for a long time, even won Olympic gold, participated in World War II as a special authorized representative in Sudan, and in 1954 he began life anew, receiving a medical degree and becoming a therapist in the village of Blackbird Leys near Oxford.

He quickly gained an excellent reputation among the residents - no, not Dr. House at all, but as a kind person and an attentive professional. Hugh loved his father very much and wanted to be like him in everything. “I remember answering phones for him at home. I was my father's real son, and before I could say, “That's not the doctor,” people were blurting out, “Doctor, thank God! Everything exploded. I can’t stop it...” I had no choice but to... well, you know, calm them down. Imagine that you are a teenager and you want attention. “Well, it looks like you’re doing the right thing,” I’d say. - Yes, yes, everything will be fine. Call back if the bleeding gets worse." I haven’t lost a single patient,” as if he was already rehearsing Laurie’s future role.

However, the latter does not regret that dad did not see his son’s worldwide triumph (Ran died when Hugh was 39). The main reason for this is a complex that often develops in boys raised by strong fathers, whom it is very difficult to surpass. Hugh tried himself in rowing and was quite good, but one unfortunate defeat, and then an illness that forced him to interrupt his studies, did not give the young man the opportunity to shine at the Olympic level. But this is not even his main guilt complex towards his dad. “Pretending to be a doctor, I make more in a season than my father, who actually treated people, made in his entire life,” says Hugh.

BRITISH JOYER

“I WAS SOMETHING LIKE A SCHOOL CLOWN, THOUGH NOT INTENTIONALLY. BY THE YEARS OF NINE OR TEN, HAVING RECEIVED A SCHOOL PRIZE FOR ACTING, I KNEW FOR EXACTLY THAT I CAN DO THIS AND DO IT WELL..."

“... Of course, this was just a way to attract the attention of girls and generally be noticed. This is how it all begins. You try to make a girl laugh, and then forty years later you’re still wondering whether you succeeded or not,” Laurie smiles. In the photo - with Stephen and fellow British comedians Esther Freud, Jennifer Sonders, Tony Slattery.

Bertie Wooster, the main character in the TV series Jeeves and Wooster, based on Wodehouse's stories, made Laurie extremely popular in Britain. “Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry managed to make Wodehouse's humor so modern that you could laugh at it. This is the work for which the alliance of Fry and Laurie came about,” wrote The Sunday Times. At first, Hugh was afraid of the reaction of the writer's fans, but they were delighted with how subtly he played his role.

An even greater imprint on the boy’s psyche was left by his mother, an ardent Presbyterian who despised comfort and calf tenderness. She raised her four children in asceticism and severity, not allowing them to become “weak at heart.” Laurie always believed that he was disappointing his mother because as a teenager he did not behave responsibly and respectfully enough, then he chose acting instead of the noble profession of medicine... “In our house, humility was considered the highest virtue. There was no sign of complacency or satisfaction,” he recalls. Well, if from a young age you are raised only with the stick, without the carrot, it is not surprising to grow up with a feeling of ossified self-doubt.

A similar picture can be seen in Gregory House. As we know from the series, his father, a military pilot, was an adherent of the idea of ​​​​severe discipline. “That’s probably what it should have been like with me,” House will say in one of the episodes, and later he will confirm his childhood guess that his father is not his own, and his real father turned out to be a family friend, a priest. Only if Laurie himself still lives with a feeling of guilt that his career and personal life were quite easy (“I didn’t have to work 12 hours in a mine, I didn’t deserve so much luck”), then House successfully covered up his childhood experiences with a complex God, which only contributes to the title of the best diagnostician.

Personal life

Laurie has been married to theater administrator Jo Green since 1989. They have three children - sons Charles (born 1988) and William (born 1991), and daughter Rebecca (born 1993)[17]. Stephen Fry, Laurie's best friend and comedy partner, was best man at his wedding and is the godfather of his children.[18] Previously, Laurie also had a romantic relationship with actress Emma Thompson.[19]

Religious views

Hugh Laurie is a convinced atheist. In an interview with VIVA! to the question: “Do you believe in God?” Laurie responded, “When I was a kid, my whole family went to the Presbyterian Church. But then I became an atheist. I don’t believe in God, and I think that if God existed, he would not tolerate what is happening around him.”[20]

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“Really, everyone wants to interview House. And they get me.” This is the opinion of the actor who created, perhaps, the most controversial character in the history of cinema and the brightest hero of our time. Meeting Hugh Laurie, a man and a man who does not see himself as a hero. I wait for him in the lobby of the Chateau Mormon hotel in Los Angeles and order a cappuccino. On the sofa next door, two lovely young women are cooing carefree - a typical product of Californian glamor and the cult of total “fine!” I glance sideways at them and only thanks to this disregard for good form do I notice how they both fall silent, concentrating on something clearly significant behind my shoulder. I recognize actress Katie Holmes in one of them... And she identified my future interlocutor. Hugh Laurie is approaching us, and this is what silenced the wife of Tom Cruise himself in raptures...

And Laurie, when the word “success” is used in connection with him, frowns in disgust. He is against thoughtless use of words. He claims: “I have no success, I was just lucky.” And also: “The luckier I am, the more scared I am. Success is deserved, but I won the lottery, although I didn’t even buy a ticket.”

But he doesn't look like a scared person at all. Although in fairness it must be said that he does not look like either a darling of fortune or a successful pro. Laurie doesn’t even look like just an actor - he doesn’t have the imprint that a profession that requires self-demonstration leaves on him. Hugh Laurie looks like a man who is 51 years old, who raised three children, worked all his life and thought a lot. Who has a habit of reflection, although he hides it: like most men of our time, he would like to appear as a man of action, not thought.

Laurie has clear and piercing blue eyes, and he exudes the deepest calm - this usually comes from large, tall, monumental people. And Laurie - a strange thing, I didn’t notice this in "House" - seems to me almost a giant: his height is no less than 190 cm, and he seems even taller due to his clearly asthenic physique... He is exquisitely polite, I would say - courtly : Before each of the countless cigarettes lit during our conversation, he asks my permission to smoke. Another strange thing: the smoke from his cigarettes does not irritate me. Like intonation, and timbre of voice, and pauses, and manners... Hugh Laurie seemed created to be accepted. And there is nothing wrong with the fact that he has not yet learned to accept himself.

In different genres

Hugh Laurie was never satisfied with acting alone. For eight years he wrote hilarious sketches for “A Little Bit of Fry and Laurie”, then released a spy detective with a taste of parody “The Gun Trader” (Phantom Press, 2008), which was read by half the world, and now he sparklingly plays the guitar and keyboards and sings in a rock band Band from TV. The group was organized by Greg Grunberg from the TV series “Heroes” with the goal of noble exploitation of the fame of his colleagues - all proceeds from performances, without exception, go to charity. The group has already produced several hits, one of which is the American folk song Good Night Irene performed by Laurie. Her plans include an album and performances scheduled for two years in advance... So it’s unlikely that we’ll soon see Laurie’s second book, the novel “The Paper Soldier,” which was supposed to be released three years ago, but the writer is still working on it.

Psychologies: Your life changed dramatically when you were 45. Leaving your home country, living away from your family - and dealing with such matters as undeniable success and worldwide fame...

Hugh Laurie: Listen, there is something absurdist in this fame of mine, that’s why I don’t trust it... Unfoundedness, lack of motivation - this has always alarmed me. You know, I lived in this hotel for almost six months when the casting of “House” was going on. All the other members of the acting team, as soon as they were approved for the roles, grabbed mortgages for new houses. And I didn’t immediately realize that House was the main character. I spent a long time reading the script with the feeling that Dr. Wilson, the oncologist, should be in charge. He is a positive, friendly person, attentive to patients, kind and sympathetic. So when it was finally decided to make the series and my colleagues got involved in real estate, I very confidently told Jennifer Morrison (actress, Laurie’s partner in the TV series “House.” – Ed.): “Jenny, I’m telling you as an adult and a father.” three children - you are committing unthinkable stupidity. We will be closed this season.” Jenny, a young and desperate woman, answered me something like: “Oh, we only live once!” It was just a shock for me when “House” became a rating leader almost all over the world. I felt like I had spent six years in a coma, suddenly woke up and now I wanted to ask: “Is Elizabeth still on the throne? Do we still drive on the left in Britain? Do we still have pounds or already euros?” Actually, in some sense I am still in this state. House is too unusual - both as a series and as a person. Too unrealistic for a television series and too unheroic and uncomfortable for a hero. He can't be a pop star. And he did. I am shell-shocked by this fact - my picture of the world, based on suspicion, has been deformed.

Suspiciousness?

You know, I belong to that type of person for whom the glass is always half empty. True, I don’t particularly share this perception of the world - I don’t like whining myself and try to fill my glass somehow, but the better things go, the more suspicious the course of events seems to me. My motto: if everything is good, it's only a matter of time before it gets worse. “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” is a wonderful title, a brilliant formulation and absolutely about me. The ease of being is something unbearable for me. I am always tormented by the question: is what is happening worthy of deep feelings or should we take a decidedly lighter approach to everything? Or, on the contrary, to fully experience the feeling of being, one must experience everything seriously? Regarding reality, I have too many open questions, and the trend is that their number is not decreasing. We British, you know, are characterized by a certain sentimentality and sensitivity. It is this sensitivity that has made many of us cynics. Self-defense, protection from our own feelings, from painful effects on our generally thin skin... I am balancing over the emptiness - depression, trying to maintain sensitivity and not fall into cynicism. And at the same time, I am aware that, in general, my depression is far-fetched: I do not do anything that could act suppressively. My life is easy - have you noticed that I'm not a miner? Yes, I’m not even an actor - I never studied this profession and for a long time I practiced it at a “cabbage” level. Even Steve and I (Stephen Fry is a famous British actor and novelist, Laurie’s friend. - Ed.) super-successful long-term show Fry and Laurie on the BBC was something of a continuation of our not so much theatrical, but theatrical activities in Cambridge. Maybe my depression is related to this - I’m not ready for the side effects of the profession. Well, kind of famous. A state alien to me.

Are you really prone to depression?

Yes, I'm a depressed type. It started before university and continues successfully, despite the so-called career, fatherhood, favorable family, friendship and filming circumstances. For some reason I feel unhappy... Although on a rational level I know that I have no reason for this. But this state is part of me. I can't complain about fate. I have no right. And this…

terrible! Antidepressants help quite a lot, and I don’t think they change personality - we put on a sweater when it’s cold, so it’s logical to take a pill when... it’s completely cold and homeless.

Have you tried to look for the causes of your depression?

Yes, and I found it, it seems to me. Apparently, I lack and have always lacked struggle. Goals, passions of life. I've stumbled, but I've never had any real failures. I once cheated on my wife, which became public knowledge, but adultery that was made public, you will agree, is a very bourgeois substitute for a genuine failure in life. Life didn't test me, that's the thing. I once heard on the radio an interview with a famous British writer and politician, who was a soldier and fighter by nature. He then said that he regrets only one thing - that he did not manage to die in the war. I was struck by this thought - it spoke of a feeling of the general, existential meaninglessness of existence. He lacked this “to die for” - how to enjoy the fruits of a victory for which others died? What is our current freedom worth? How is my freedom, the freedom of the people of my generation expressed? The freedom to get ravioli at three in the morning?

What, besides pills, helps you get out of such states?

Boxing helps. Children. And House. I recently started boxing. Almost never with a pear. With a partner. It hurts, but you become a clot, a bundle of strength that doesn’t feel pain. I box every morning. For real - when I can afford to get a black eye or a cut eyebrow. More often - in training mode. Because of the filming of House, I have to take breaks in real boxing. But House helps too. He is not affected by sociality, he is not chained to it, he is able to soar above all these canons of good behavior, political correctness, superficial tact. He is the denial of social gravity. I would like that too. But I just ride a motorcycle. This is also a flight. A flight surrogate, of course. But it seems. I have children. I love them, they are the main thing in my life. So don't ask me that dumb but traditional question, "What do you have in common with House?" Something might have made me closer if I had no one to love. But I have someone. And this, by the way, looks like happiness. But who said that the meaning of our existence is to achieve happiness? I doubt

But isn’t this kind of doubt what makes you akin to your hero?

I like something completely different about him. There is such an episode in “Star Trek” (American television series – Ed.). Captain Kirk looks into outer space through the hatch and says: “Somewhere out there right now, someone is saying the three most beautiful words in any language.” You think he means "I love you." But then the captain clarifies: “Help me, please.” By the three most beautiful words, he meant a request for help. And he’s right – it contains absolute beauty, because behind it is the natural and noble contact of human beings. This is what I like about House - there are requests for help everywhere, they come from all the characters, and from House, perhaps to a greater extent.

Isn't this your version of happiness?

Maybe. But overcoming, the happiness of the challenge, is also important. For my 40th birthday, my wife gave me a parachute jump. That is, I went to training, and then had to jump. But on day X, when we took off, it turned out that the wind was too strong and idiots like us, amateurs, couldn’t jump. We returned to earth. An interesting detail: the women from our group were upset, but all the men - and I was no exception - breathed a sigh of relief. But one way or another, we all ended up there to test ourselves, to overcome. To know about myself, can I really jump into nowhere when at the height this guy-instructor opens the door and says: “Come on!” It turns out that I couldn’t do it: then the jump was cancelled, then postponed, and then there was no time for it at all. And it turns out that I'm afraid of falling. Perhaps out of vanity. Or maybe due to a lack of vital energy. But all this together makes me a vain pessimist

The idea of ​​overcoming as the meaning of existence sounds something very British - conquering, colonialist. In addition, you played Bertie Wooster and other English aristocrats. So to what extent are you an Englishman, with all this national kit: irony, snobbery, a carefully hidden “heart of gold”, a passion for conquering new spaces, a desire to win, assertiveness and good manners?

That is, to what extent am I inherently English? You know, in some ways I like British football fans. As you know, the most malicious of all. Because they refute this myth of yours about the Englishman, the colonialist in a pith helmet. I don't believe in national character in the modern world. I only believe in the accent. In order to become a 100% American House - with all his experience of historical and cultural disappointments, he still lives in the era of political correctness and post-classism - I had to deceive... language.

But you received a truly British upbringing: Presbyterian ascetic values ​​in the family, then school - the prestigious Eton, then Cambridge...

But it seems to me that something else is important. I grew up in a family of a doctor and an athlete. My father was an incredibly gentle, incredibly well-mannered man, a doctor, extremely devoted to his patients, a true athlete - he won a gold medal in scull rowing at the London Olympics in 1948. And I wanted to be like him and also rowed, quite seriously. A friend of my youth, Emma Thompson, recently said: “Listen, I remember you back then and can’t believe my eyes - you were huge.” Yes, rowing is a power sport. I was huge. This is partly why I was accepted into Cambridge - my athletic form was impressive. But I wanted to be like my father and at the same time denied him - both his tact and his honesty. I was a bad teenager, a nasty teenager... But we are all doomed to see ourselves as just a worse version of our fathers... And this is how it ended: pretending to be Doctor House, I earn ten times more than he would have earned if he were alive. Journalists ask if I feel sorry that my father died before House. No, I’m not sorry - perhaps I would be ashamed of this pretense. But I'm sorry that my father is no longer alive. I have never come to terms with his death, I miss him - and his delicacy, and purity, and devotion. Not long before his death, I went to the USA to film “Stuart Little,” it seems. I knew that he felt bad, but I decided not to go to him and not say goodbye in detail. And I did it quite consciously: I didn’t want to... let him go, I didn’t want to give him permission to leave. He had to have this thing on his mind - to meet with me. And I didn't really say goodbye. Now I regret it. But it is possible that he would have done the same if the situation repeated itself.

In general, do you think it’s worth leaving unfinished business? Does life have meaning in open endings?

Life itself leaves the endings open. For me, a clear example is my mother. She was a woman suffering from mood swings, with oddities - for example, in my opinion, she was the first in Europe to really begin to implement “green” ideas: she collected waste paper from neighbors and handed it over... She despised the idea that one should live for the sake of happiness, that we must definitely achieve it. She hated the very word “comfort.” She was hostile to sentiment, to manifestations of tenderness, she simply hated tears. As a reaction to our children’s tears, she could say: “Don’t create dampness!” We had a strange relationship: it seemed to me that she expected too much from me, saw in me something that I could never live up to. All I did was shatter the image of my ideal self: I lied at school and refused to seriously learn to play the piano. I became a self-taught actor, and not a doctor, like my father, as she wanted... Our relationship was not cloudless, and it seemed to me that in general I disappointed her. But after her death, my brother said that I, it turns out, was my mother’s favorite, that she was proud of my stage experiences... But she is no longer there, I have no one to say what I now want. The ending remained open.

Has moving to the US made you less of a pessimist? After all, it is generally accepted that America is a country of optimists and life-builders.

Listen, when I close the door behind me in England, I enter my

fortress. Into a solid stone container of the fundamentals of life. And when I slam the door in a house in Los Angeles, the walls shake! Everything here is flimsy, everything is temporary, no one even thinks about permanence. They are building here, but in a way that is not obsessive, so that it is convenient now. In general, I like this American principle of life - fast & easy (easy and fast - Ed.). There is no point in declaring yourself to the world as something imperishable!

But how, having a tendency to depression, did you play in comedies for so many years and write comedy scripts and sketches yourself, that is, make people laugh?

But I'm just a depressive type, not a misanthrope. I like people. And they know this - no one will say a bad word about me. That's why I say bad things about myself.

prepared by Victoria Belopolskaya, Veronica Parker / FAMOUS FEATURES

PSYCHOLOGIES №54

Recognition and awards

Hugh Laurie in 2012
For his role as Dr. House in the TV series House, MD, he was awarded the Golden Globe Award in 2005 and 2006. In 2020, he received his third Golden Globe for his supporting role in the film The Night Manager.

On January 28, 2007, Hugh Laurie received the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series.[21]

In January 2009, he won the category “Favorite TV DRAMA ACTOR” at the People's Choice Awards 2009

[22].

In August 2010, he topped the ranking of the highest paid actors starring in American drama television series[23][24].

In 2011, he was included in the Guinness Book of Records as the actor who attracts the largest audience to television screens[25][26].

On October 25, 2020, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame[27].

Hugh Laurie: anthropologist, atheist, musician, film actor

The talents of the main character of the series "Doctor House" are truly limitless. He is an ideal husband, an excellent actor and a talented singer. In 2011, the debut album Let Them Talk was released. The album took almost a year to write, but the results were very impressive, the album quickly rose to the top of the charts and sold out quickly - like a non-stop dance.

In principle, this was not the first musical outing of the lanky Scot - in 1992, he already recorded a ragtime soundtrack for his own TV series “Jeeves and Wooster”. What prompted Hugh Laurie, a more than accomplished film and TV actor, and also the highest paid in his category, to move away from his usual way of self-expression and earning money for so long? Oh, this is not an idle question! It's all about Laurie's personality...

James Hugh Calum Laurie was born on June 11, 1959 and grew up in a good family, the youngest of four children, lived in the center of a noble upbringing in the British Oxford, educated at Eton and Cambridge - what names! There, as a student, he began to play in amateur theater. He never worked as an anthropologist or archaeologist by profession, although it certainly gave him knowledge of human nature in its development, which was very useful for an actor. From the same amateur stage, two more well-known actors to Russian audiences stepped into professional acting: Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson. Hugh had an affair with Emma, ​​and with Stephen Laurie acted as a couple, in a comic-conversational genre. Once upon a time this was popular on the Soviet stage - Mirov and Novitsky, Shirvindt and Derzhavin... Just two young (or not so young) dunces, shamelessly exploiting their own charm, carrying all sorts of funny nonsense from the stage... Wow, how much is needed intelligence and acting technique, to play the fool like that and hold the attention of the audience, in which every spectator is sure that he is smarter than the guys standing on stage... These guys, Laurie and Fry, did this perfectly. Now both of them are serious dramatic actors.

Indeed, after participating in a series of crazy television comedies, Hugh Laurie radically changed his role - he became more serious. No, he played small, serious roles in films, but it was “House” that brought him true international recognition. It is difficult to guess whether the consonance with Doctor Faustus was originally intended, but the fact remains that Hugh Laurie’s charismatic and gloomy character is known throughout the world, and the performer brought him a hefty award - Golden Globes, one in both hands.

Yes, but what about the music?!

Actors, and not only actors, say that if you have ever managed to sing from stage to audience, even amateurishly, without a special voice and with minimal hearing, you will be drawn to this sinful activity for the rest of your life... The history of world cinema is silent, when and why did Hugh Laurie sing... And also why he writes books and scripts, directs and produces. Probably because he is a gifted person, and an integral artistic personality. For such people, creativity comes not from an instrument of expression (I want to play the violin, dance in ballet, train budgies, etc.), but from an internal state - I want to tell people something about themselves. And here the instrument can be absolutely any: acting, literature... This time Laurie decided to express his attitude to life by performing ballads accompanied by an instrumental ensemble, where he is a soloist, singer and keyboard player. Why not?

The music press persistently calls his band Band From TV a rock band, but this is not at all what it is. The accordion and clarinet included in its composition have never been attributes of rock, even the softest. And the music they perform is not rock , but rather blues. Laurie himself says that he would not be surprised if his album did not become a success. “You don’t ask a plumber for financial advice, do you?” So why should anyone listen to music created by an actor?” - he said once.

Note that, unlike acting, Hugh Laurie still has some musical education. He began to learn to play the piano at the age of six, like many children of the British middle class. He disliked his teacher, as well as the lessons themselves. But one day, a song he heard on the radio seemed to turn on the light in his soul, and his studies went much more successfully. Now Laurie is a pretty decent pianist. Even though he is not Vladimir Horowitz, and Laurie’s fingering would make any music teacher sick – does it really matter? Rather, what matters is what and how Hugh Laurie sings.

The album is called Let Them Talk, and the content of the title track is revealed in the same spirit: “just let someone who wants to speak even in a whisper so that only two people can hear…” The entire album is meaningful and in this spirit - about the need to communicate about yourself to others people and that we don’t understand each other and don’t seem to be particularly striving... There are also songs about love - “Yes, I know... I know... “Hallelujah”, I love her so much!” Yes, if there is no way to understand each other through words, perhaps it will be possible to explain something emotionally. A cheerful song, by the way, almost a dance song... And New Orleans, the most cheerful city in America, climbs out of this composition every sixteenth beat...

“No, I was not born in Alabama in the 1890s,” Hugh Laurie says about himself, either jokingly or seriously. “And the gypsy didn’t predict anything unusual for my mother... I’m a white Englishman who has encroached on the music of the American South... And who said that it can only be performed by an elderly and dark-skinned musician?” Anyone can play this music as long as they do it well. A Cambridge graduate is good at it, which means everything is in order. The ghost of Ella Fitzgerald has not yet appeared to him with reproaches... Well, or we don’t know anything about it.

It's nice to listen to Hugh Laurie, yes, it is. He has a pretty decent singing voice. He really sings, he doesn’t hum, he doesn’t whisper, he just sings. You don't have to strain to hear him. Various eminent guests sometimes take part in his performances, and Hugh’s duet with Sir Tom Jones, one of the most vociferous pop singers of the 20th century, sounded quite worthy. And what’s remarkable is that Lori’s vocal accents, syncopations, all “drunk” and “forte”, are not done in order to deafen or perplex the viewer. They are meaningful and are issued solely to enhance the meaning of the text.

He has something to say to this world, the method of expression is not so important, cinema, fiction, vocals. And an old, but not aging truth - a talented person is talented in everything.

Watch the series "Doctor House" from Monday to Thursday at 23:00 on the Domashny TV channel.

Filmography

Actor

Screenwriter

• 1982 - “Nothing to worry about!” / There's Nothing to Worry About! (TV series, episodes)
• 1982 - “The Cabbage Man of the Cambridge Student Theater” / Cambridge Footlights Revue TV
• The Crystal Cube” (TV movie)
• 1983-1984 - “Alfresco” / Alfresco (TV series, episodes)
• 1986-1987 - “Saturday Live” / Saturday Live (TV show, episodes)
• 1987-1995 - “The Fry and Laurie Show” / A Bit of Fry and Laurie (TV show)
• 1987 - The Laughing Prisoner (TV movie)
• 2002 - Dragans of New York (TV movie, never aired)

Director

• 1995 - Look at the State We're In! (mini-series)
• 2000 - “Anything is possible, baby” / Maybe Baby (main character)
• 2003 - “A little over forty” / Fortysomething (TV series, 6 episodes)
• 2010 - “Doctor House”, episode “Lockdown” (season 6, episode 17)
• 2012 — “House,” episode “The C Word” (season 8, episode 19)

Composer

• 1987-1995 - “The Fry and Laurie Show” / A Bit of Fry and Laurie
• 1992 - “Friends of Peter” / Peter's Friends (song “Roger's Coffee Commercial Jingle”)
• 2000 - “Anything is possible, baby” / Maybe Baby (song “Sperm Test In The Morning”)

FRIENDSHIP AS THE KEY TO SUCCESS

“I think we have something in common,” Laurie says of her hero. “We both look at the world with one eyebrow raised. We are both very serious, but at the same time we are characterized by childishness. He and I are eternal teenagers, but with such pathological seriousness. We also both have problems with joy, po-! as much as we think that it is beyond our understanding. I often imagine a scene from a Woody Allen movie where he is riding a train and sees cars full of laughing people. They drink champagne, someone has a trombone. But Woody is clearly outside of all this, he looks from the outside. I think that sums up my vision of the world and House well."

Oddly enough, Laurie’s “trouble with joy”, as he described his mood swings, did not stop him from becoming one of the UK’s most successful comedians. To complete the picture, he was also paired with the second not-most-fun person in the world, Stephen Fry. Fry, who suffered from regular bouts of blues, and once even seriously contemplated suicide, and Laurie, tormented by the thought that he did not deserve such success, met in the student theater. “I first saw Stephen on stage when he was nineteen. He played an old man and had a very appropriate look - gloomy and melancholic. But behind the scenes he was the same, even at twenty he looked as if he was fifty-five. He gave the impression of a man who had seen a lot,” recalls Laurie.

“BILL WAS BORN IN THE HEIGHT OF FILMING JEEVES AND WOOCESTER.” I WAS STILL IN A SUIT WHEN THE PHONE RING"

Hugh invited his new acquaintance to write a script together and stage an act. And from this began their long-term friendship. “Thank heavens - we manage to make each other laugh. Stephen made me laugh so often - and still does. He's been making me laugh for over three decades now. I knew right away that this person was the one for me,” says Laurie. “Hugh is more powerful. And wiser. He is the ultimate authority that we all ultimately turn to. I would say he has true charisma and true wisdom,” admits Fry.

This story of friendship, like House’s relationship with Wilson, goes back decades. Both real and movie friends have gone through a number of tests, sometimes even quarrels, but they remain close people to each other. However, at the beginning of the fifth season, which is now broadcast by Universal Channel, the friendship of the medical luminaries was in the balance: having survived the death of his beloved, in which Gregory was indirectly involved, the long-time friend intends to radically solve the problem: leave the hospital and forget his past life. But as one of House's team members so aptly noted about Wilson, "He paid for your lunch, he loved Monster Trucks, and he was your conscience," and that's a friendship you can't help but treasure.

Hugh’s relationship with Stephen was also on the edge of the abyss. Laurie was unpleasantly surprised when his friend became depressed and, battling the urge to commit suicide, secretly left town. “He didn’t trust me before he left, and at the time I was very worried about it. But I understand why he did this. He knew that I would urge him to pull himself together, and in the state of mind in which he was, such calls were of no use to him,” later, having experienced depression himself, he would understand his friend’s motives.

“We sulk at each other from time to time, but in the same way we sulk at the whole world and everything around us. If we talk about real quarrels, we never had any. I think if we had a real fight it would be a disaster,” admits Fry. And it’s true: their duet gave the world not only an example of true friendship, but also a number of amazing humorous sketches, shows, and films. For example, “The Fry and Laurie Show”, “The Young Ones”, the series “Black Adder”, not to mention the brilliant serial “Jeeves and Wooster”, where Hugh and Stephen stunningly accurately portrayed the English aristocrat and his assistant, described in the ironic stories of Wodehouse .

Music

Hugh Laurie was a drummer in the school orchestra. He also plays the piano, guitar, harmonica and saxophone. He is the keyboard player of the rock band “Band From TV”, consisting of actors from American television series, which periodically gives charity concerts. In the 1990s, he performed with the R'n'B group Poor White Thrash, along with actor Lenny Henry and director Ben Elton's wife, Sophia. Currently in the group “Copper bottom band”, he has recorded two albums.

On July 26, 2010, it became known that Hugh Laurie had begun recording a blues music album and signed an agreement with the media giant Warner Music.

Hugh Laurie and music

At school, Hugh Laurie was a drummer in the school orchestra. In addition to playing the piano, Hugh can play the guitar and harmonica. The actor plays keyboards in Greg Grunberg's rock band The Band from TV. Their group gives charity concerts from time to time. The musical group also includes such popular television actors as James Denton from Desperate Housewives, Bob Guiney from The Bachelors, Bonnie Somerville from Cashmere Mafia and Jesse Spencer from House. In the 90s, Hugh Laurie also gave concerts with the R'n'B group Poor White Thrash, which included actor Lenny Henry and director Ben Elton's wife, Sophia. Hugh Laurie on the series Dr. House Hugh Laurie starred in Annie Lennox's "Walking on Broken Glass" video and Kate Bush's "Experiment IV" video. In March 2011, Hugh Laurie presented his first music album, “Let Them Talk,” which he recorded back in 2010. The album is performed in the blues style and consists of 15 compositions. The presentation of the album “Let Them Talk” took place during the Dr John concert in New Orleans.

Awards and nominations

On October 25, 2020, Hugh Laurie received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame[41]. A longtime friend and colleague from Jeeves and Wooster, Stephen Fry, one of the creators of House, David Shore, and actress Diane Farr, with whom Laurie worked in the neo-noir Chance, came to congratulate the actor.[42]

Return to the small screen

After starring in the TV series House, Hugh Laurie turned away from television series. Fans were waiting for his return in the pirate television series Skull and Bones, but he refused the main role and was replaced by John Malkovich . It would seem that there is no longer any need to wait for a grandiose return to the multi-series world.

Hugh admitted that he really liked the novel “The Night Manager.” And he gladly starred in the mini-series. Photo: hughlauriefan.com But the spy mini-series “The Night Manager” based on the famous novel by John le Carré is coming out soon. The main character is a retired invisible front soldier who returns to British intelligence. And it is he who will play him – Hugh Laurie. It seems that the role for the enchanting return to the small screen was chosen perfectly. Those who have already missed Hugh Laurie while rewatching the next season of “House” will not have long to wait for a new meeting; the series “The Night Manager” will be released in 2020.

While waiting for the release of the new series with Hugh Laurie, you have the opportunity to enjoy “House” from Monday to Thursday at 20:45.

Notes

1. The Royal Family on Twitter, Twitter
   . Retrieved November 22, 2020.
2. ↑ 1 2 3 4 5
   "Hugh Laurie".
   Host: James Lipton. Inside the Actors Studio
   . Bravo. 31 July 2006. Episode 18, season 12.
3. Hugh Laurie Biography (1959-) (English). Film Reference. Retrieved May 13, 2008.
4. Faces of the week (English). BBC (20 January 2006). Retrieved May 13, 2008. Archived February 16, 2012.
5. Interview (English) // GQ magazine: magazine. - 1992. - December. - P. 105.
6. Neil Strauss.
   Dr.
   Feelbad (English). Rolling Stone
   (April 5, 2007). Retrieved May 13, 2008. Archived February 16, 2012.
7. Hugh Laurie: “I don’t want to live without the blues” (undefined)
   .
   JazzPeople
   .
8. Queen hands OBE to actor Laurie (English). BBC (23 May 2007). Retrieved January 7, 2010. Archived February 16, 2012.
9. Hugh Laurie became a Commander of the Order of the British Empire
10. LittleBigPlanet 3: Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry in All-Star Cast (unspecified)
    . PlayStation.Blog. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
11. Robert Crampton.
    Hugh Laurie on House, fame and LA (English). The Times (29 March 2008). Retrieved January 7, 2010. Archived February 16, 2012.
12. Hugh Laurie Chatted Today With His Fans. - Interview. Retrieved April 22, 2011. Archived February 16, 2012.
13. ↑ 123
    LES MOTOS DE HUGH LAURIE
14. Uneasy rider: Glum Hugh Laurie takes his wife for a spin around town
15. House… and a very nice car! Hugh Laurie lives the dream as he cruises around LA in classic convertible
16. Hugh Laurie Cruises In His Convertible
17. Children are Hugh Laurie's 'One Extreme Pleasure' (English), People
    (April 8, 2009).
18. Smith, David
    .
    Doctor Hugh, The Guardian
    (24 April 2005).
19. Walker, Tim
    .
    Hugh Laurie's elemental about Emma Thompson, The Telegraph
    (12 January 2009).
20. "Dr. House is only pretending to be a doctor" (undefined)
    . housefan.ru. - Interview. Retrieved December 23, 2010. Archived February 16, 2012.
21. Maria Kuznetsova.
    Hugh Laurie.
    Photos from different years (unspecified)
    .
    rollingstone.ru
    (June 22, 2012). Retrieved June 25, 2012. Archived June 27, 2012.
22. And the winners are... (English). People's Choice Awards 2009 (7 January 2010). Retrieved January 7, 2010. Archived February 16, 2012.
23. The highest paid stars of American TV (unspecified)
    . RIA News. Retrieved August 18, 2010. Archived February 16, 2012.
24. The media have calculated how much Hugh Laurie is paid per episode in "Doctor House" (unspecified)
    . RIA Novosti (August 16, 2010). Retrieved August 18, 2010. Archived February 16, 2012.
25. Hugh Laurie entered the Guinness Book of Records Lenta.ru
26. Guinness Book of Records: Hugh Laurie is the most watched man on television, Telegraph
27. Hugh Laurie received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
28. Hugh Laurie Australian Charts (undefined)
    . australian-charts.com. Retrieved July 21, 2013. Archived July 27, 2013.
29. Hugh Laurie Austrian Charts (undefined)
    . Retrieved May 12, 2011. Archived June 2, 2012.
30. Hugh Laurie French Charts (undefined)
    . Retrieved May 16, 2011. Archived June 2, 2012.
31. Suchergebnisse in den deutschen Charts (German) (inaccessible link). charts.de. Retrieved July 21, 2013. Archived July 27, 2013.
32. Hugh Laurie – Irish Charts (undefined)
    . Retrieved May 19, 2011. Archived June 2, 2012.
33. Hugh Laurie Dutch Charts (undefined)
    . Retrieved May 16, 2011. Archived June 2, 2012.
34. Hugh Laurie New Zealand Charts (undefined)
    . Retrieved September 15, 2011. Archived June 2, 2012.
35. Hugh Laurie – Didn't It Rain (English). Finnishcharts.com. Retrieved July 21, 2013. Archived July 27, 2013.
36. Hugh Laurie Swiss Charts (undefined)
    . Retrieved May 16, 2011. Archived June 2, 2012.
37. Billboard Updates September 14, 2011
38. Prensario Música (undefined)
    (inaccessible link). Prensario Musica. Retrieved November 22, 2011. Archived June 2, 2012.
39. Disque en France (undefined)
    (inaccessible link). Disque en France. Retrieved April 30, 2012. Archived June 2, 2012.
40. BPI Highest Certifications (undefined)
    . British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved September 17, 2011. Archived June 2, 2012.
41. Hollywood Walk of Fame (unspecified)
    .
    Hollywood Walk of Fame
    . Retrieved October 25, 2020.
42. House M.D. Hugh Laurie receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame