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| family = John House<br />Blythe House
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| spouse = James Wilson
| portrayer = [[Hugh Laurie]]
| portrayer = [[Hugh Laurie]]
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Revision as of 11:26, 26 October 2007

Dr. Gregory House
File:House - Gregory House.jpg
Hugh Laurie as Gregory House in "Occam's Razor"
First appearance"Pilot"
Portrayed byHugh Laurie
In-universe information
OccupationHead of the Department of Diagnostic Medicine
FamilyJohn House
Blythe House
SpouseJames Wilson

Gregory House, M.D., is a fictional character and protagonist of the Fox medical drama House. Portrayed by Hugh Laurie, the character is a maverick medical genius who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. House's character has been described as a "misanthrope" and a "curmudgeon", the latter of which was named one of the top television words of the year in honour of the character.[4][5]

On the series, the character's unorthodox diagnostic approaches, radical therapeutic motives, and stalwart rationality has resulted in much conflict between himself and his colleagues.[6] House is also often portrayed as lacking empathy and sympathy for his patients, a practice that allots him the time to solve pathological enigmas. The character is partly inspired by Sherlock Holmes.[7][8]

Biography

File:Houseteam.JPG
From left to right: Dr. Allison Cameron, Dr. Gregory House, and Dr. Eric Foreman.

Gregory House was born to John and Blythe House on June 11 1959.[1] His social security number was issued in Ohio.[1][9] House is a "military brat". His father served as a Marine Corps pilot, and transferred often to other bases during House's childhood.[10] House presumably picked up his affinity for languages during this period, and shows a level of understanding of Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese and Hindi. One place his father was stationed was in Egypt, where House developed a passing fascination with archaeology and treasure-hunting, an interest which led him to keep his treasure-hunting tools well into his adulthood.[11] Another station was Japan, where, at age 14, House discovered his vocation after witnessing a buraku doctor solve a case no other doctor could handle.[12]

House loves his mother but hates his father, who he claims has an "insane moral compass." House avoids both parents and spends an entire episode dodging a night out with them. At one point, House tells a story of his parents leaving him with his grandmother whose punishments constituted abuse. He later confesses that it was his father who abused him.[13]

After receiving his undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins University, House studied at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine until classmate Phillip Weber reported House for copying exam answers from him.[14] Following his expulsion from Johns Hopkins, he applied and was accepted to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor where he received his M.D. and met Lisa Cuddy, his future boss.[15] There is a degree of sexual tension between the two characters due to a one-night stand in the past.[16]

About ten years before the series began, House entered into a relationship with Stacy, a constitutional lawyer. They met at a "Doctors vs Lawyers" paintball event where she shot him. Five years later, he suffered an infarction in his right leg, which went undiagnosed for three days due to doctors' concerns that he was exhibiting drug seeking behavior. An aneurysm in his thigh had clotted, leading to an infarction and causing his quadriceps muscles to become necrotic. House had the dead muscle bypassed in order to restore circulation to the remainder of his leg, risking organ failure and cardiac arrest. He was willing to endure excruciating post operative pain to retain the use of his leg. After, House was put into a chemically-induced coma to sleep through the worst of the pain. Stacy decided to choose a safer surgical middle-ground procedure between amputation and a bypass by removing just the dead muscle. This resulted in the partial loss of use in his leg, and left House with a lesser, but still serious, level of pain for the rest of his life. House could not forgive Stacy for making the decision, so he left her.[17]

When Stacy makes her first appearance in the series, she is married to a high school guidance counselor named Mark Warner. Although House and Stacy grow closer together and reunite briefly during the second season, House tells Stacy to go back to her husband, which devastates her. Her character has not returned to the show since.

Characterization

File:House and Wilson.jpg
Dr. Wilson is House's only friend.

House's character frequently shows his cunning and biting wit, enjoys picking people apart, and mocking their weaknesses.[18] House accurately deciphers people's motives and histories from aspects of their personality and appearance.[19] Dr. James Wilson once states in the episode "DNR" that while "some doctors have the messiah complex — they need to save the world", House has "a Rubik's complex" — he needs "to solve the puzzle." House typically waits as long as possible before meeting his patients.[18] When he encounters his patients, House shows an unorthodox bedside manner and uses unconventional treatments. However, he impresses them with rapid and accurate diagnoses after seemingly not paying attention. This skill was demonstrated in an episode where House diagnoses an entire waiting room full of patients in under a minute on his way out of the hospital clinic. [20]

File:HouseRightDamagedLeg.JPG
House's thigh, scarred from infarction surgery

His crankiness is commonly attributed to the chronic pain in his leg (as a result of the infarction) for which he requires the aid of a cane. According to Stacy Warner, his former girlfriend, he was "pretty much the same" before the infarction, and his boss Lisa Cuddy claimed that after the surgery he was "an egomaniacal, narcissistic pain in the ass - same as before."[21][22] For his chronic leg pain, House takes Vicodin, and has developed an addiction.[23] He concedes that he has an addiction, but says that the addiction is not a problem because it does not interfere with his work.[24]

House openly talks about and makes references to pornography. In one episode, he returns the flirtations of a female under age patient ("Lines in the Sand"), and is seen on at least two occasions engaging the services of a prostitute ("Distractions" being one of them).

House frequently says "Everybody lies," but jokingly remarked that he was lying when he said that in the first season finale.[25] House criticizes social etiquette for lack of rational purpose and usefulness. In one episode, he explains how he envies an autistic patient because society allows the patient to forgo the niceties that he must suffer through.

House is a strong non-conformist and gives little regard to how others perceive of him.[26] Throughout the series, he displays sardonic contempt for authority figures. House shows an almost constant disregard for his own appearance, possessing a permanent stubble and dressing informally in jeans and t-shirt. He avoids wearing the standard white lab coat to avoid patients recognizing him to be a doctor.[27]

House has a small social life and his only friend is Dr. James Wilson.[26] Wilson knew House before the infarction, and looked after him when House's relationship with Stacy ended.[22] Although they frequently analyze and criticize each other's motives, Wilson has risked his career to protect House. Dr. Wilson takes emotional refuge in his friend after suffering from a failed relationship in "Sex Kills."[28] House has quietly admitted, at several instances, that he is grateful for Wilson's presence, including referring to Wilson as his best friend. Dr. Wilson is one of the few who voluntarily maintains a relationship with House, and one of the few individuals who can make House laugh.[29]

Casting

Before Hugh Laurie was auditioning for the role of Gregory House, he was filming Flight of the Phoenix in Namibia. Laurie was suggested to audition for the role of James Wilson and Gregory House. When House read that Wilson was a character with a "handsome open face," he decided to audition for the role of House.[30]

After watching casting tapes for the pilot episode, Bryan Singer grew frustrated and refused to cast a British actor with a flawed American accent for the role of Gregory House.[26] However, when he saw Hugh Laurie's audition tape, Singer was fooled by Laurie's American accent. He mistook him as an American and praised Laurie as an example of a true American actor.[31] Laurie initially believed that James Wilson would be the protagonist of the show after reading the brief description of the character and did not find out that House was the main character until he read the full script of the pilot episode.[32] Prior to the airing of the series, the producers were also concerned that Laurie lacked sex appeal to the viewers.[26] For his portrayal of Gregory House, Hugh Laurie has won Best Actor in a Television Drama Series from the Golden Globe in 2006 and 2007, and Best Actor from Drama Series from Screen Actors Guild Awards.[33]

Concept and creation

Hugh Laurie describes House as a character "who didn't obey the usual pieties of modern life."[26] As a protagonist, many aspects of his personality are the antithesis of what might be expected from a doctor.[18] Producer Katie Jacobs views House as a character who is accustomed to living in misery, and slow to change.[34] Dr. Wilson, his only friend in the show, and House both avoid mature relationships, which brings the two closer together.[29]

Adopting an American accent for his role has been difficult for Laurie, who says words such as "coronary artery" are particularly tricky to pronounce.[35] The cane tricks that are seen throughout the series are created by Laurie himself.[29]

Parallels to Sherlock Holmes

House's character is partly inspired by Sherlock Holmes.[7] The name "House" is a play on "Holmes" (with English pronunciation, a homophone for "homes").[36] Actor Robert Sean Leonard has said that House and his character were originally intended to play the role of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in the series although he believes that House's team has assumed the role.[37] House is addicted to Vicodin, while Holmes has a cocaine habit. Both have a talent for accurately deciphering people's motives and histories from aspects of their personality and appearance. Holmes lives at 221B Baker Street, and House's street address is 221B.[25]

In the pilot episode, the patient's called Rebecca Adler - her last name is the one of a most famous character in Conan Doyle's short stories, because she's described as the only woman who has ever been able to put Sherlock Holmes off. "She is THE woman". The name of House's nemesis in "No Reason," Jack Moriarty, coincides with Sherlock Holmes's nemesis Professor Moriarty.[38][39]

References

  1. ^ a b c "No Reason". House, M.D.. Season 2. Episode 24. 2006-05-23. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help) According to his listed social security number (295-13-7865) on the hospital identification bracelet
  2. ^ It coincides with the birth date of Hugh Laurie. It has been previously given as December 21 or sometime during the late fall or early winter in The Socratic Method (House episode).
  3. ^ "Occam's Razor". House, M.D.. Season 1. Episode 3. 2004-11-30. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ House: Who Will They Save Next?
  5. ^ http://www.languagemonitor.com/wst_page11.html
  6. ^ Kristine, Diane (2005-04-23), "Ending Season Three With a Bang? An Interview with House Writer Lawrence Kaplow", Blog Critics, retrieved 2007-10-13 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |publication-date= (help)
  7. ^ a b Zap2it ? TV news ? Building 'House' Is Hard Work
  8. ^ House and Holmes parallels - Radio Times, January 2006
  9. ^ This Social Security number is not valid, as the area 295 has not released SSNs with a group value of 13. Social Security High Values
  10. ^ "Daddy's Boy". House, M.D.. Season 2. Episode 5. 2005-11-08. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ "Clueless". House, M.D.. Season 2. Episode 15. 2006-03-28. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ "Son of Coma Guy". House, M.D.. Season 3. Episode 7. 2006-11-14. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ "One Day, One Room". House, M.D.. Season 3. Episode 12. 2007-01-30. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  14. ^ "Distractions". House, M.D.. Season 2. Episode 12. 2006-02-14. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ "Humpty Dumpty". House, M.D.. Season 2. Episode 3. 2005-09-27. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ "Top Secret". House, M.D.. Season 3. Episode 16. 2007-03-27. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
    House: Give me a break. You hired me ...
    Cuddy:... because you're a good doctor who couldn't get himself hired at a blood bank, so I got you cheap.
    House:You gave me everything I asked for because one night I gave you everything ...
  17. ^ "Three Stories". House, M.D.. Season 1. Episode 21. 2005-05-17. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  18. ^ a b c Poniewozik, James (2004-11-22), "Scorn is the Best Medicine", Time (magazine), no. Time (magazine), Time Inc., ISSN 0040-781X, retrieved 2007-09-28 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  19. ^ Holland, Roger (2006-05-01). "House: Season Four Premiere". PopMatters. Retrieved 2007-09-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  20. ^ "Sports Medicine". House, M.D.. Season 1. Episode 12. 2005-02-22. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  21. ^ "Honeymoon". House, M.D.. Season 1. Episode 22. 2005-05-24. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  22. ^ a b "Need to Know". House, M.D.. Season 2. Episode 11. 2005-02-07. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help) Cite error: The named reference "needtoknow" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  23. ^ Kristine, Diane (2005-10-24), "Constructing House: An Interview With House, M.D. Writer Lawrence Kaplow", Blog Critics, retrieved 2007-10-12 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |publication-date= (help)
  24. ^ "Detox". House, M.D.. Season 1. Episode 11. 2005-02-15. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  25. ^ a b Jensen, Jeff. Full 'House'
  26. ^ a b c d e Winters, Rebecca (2005-09-04), "Doctor Is in ... a Bad Mood", Time (magazine), ISSN 0040-781X, retrieved 2007-10-09 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |publication-date= (help)
  27. ^ "Pilot". House, M.D.. Season 1. Episode 1. 2004-11-16. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  28. ^ Ryan, Maureen (2006-05-01). "'House'-a-palooze, Part 3: Katie Jacobs". The Watcher. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2007-10-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  29. ^ a b c Ryan, Maureen (2006-05-01). "'House'-a-palooza: On Omar Epps' Emmy bid, Wilson's messed-up life and stupid cane tricks". The Watcher. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2007-10-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  30. ^ British actor set for U.S. fame with offbeat M.D. role
  31. ^ Radio Times magazine, 23 March 2007
  32. ^ Inside the Actor's Studio Hugh Laurie Interview, BRAVO Network, [2006]
  33. ^ Loose Lips Backstage at Golden Globes
  34. ^ Kristine, Diane (2005-04-23), "Behind "Half-Wit" and Beyond: An Interview with House Executive Producer Katie Jacobs", Blog Critics, retrieved 2007-03-05 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |publication-date= (help)
  35. ^ Hugh Laurie Makes a House Call
  36. ^ Wittler, Wendell (2005-04-18). "Living in a 'House' built for one". Retrieved 2007-10-12. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  37. ^ Ryan, Maureen (2006-05-01). "'House'-a-palooza, part 2: Robert Sean Leonard". The Watcher. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2007-10-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  38. ^ TV Review: House Season Finale - "No Reason"
  39. ^ House and Holmes parallels - Radio Times, January 2006

External links

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