Everything about Dr Gregory House totally explained
Gregory House,
M.D., is a
fictional character and
protagonist of the
Fox medical drama House. Portrayed by
Hugh Laurie, the character is a medical
genius who heads a team of
diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. House's character has been described as a "
misanthrope", a "
cynic" and a "", the last of which was named one of the top television words of 2006 in honor of the character.
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. 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.
Character biography
Gregory House was born to John and Blythe House. House is a "
military brat", as his father served as a
Marine Corps pilot and transferred often to other bases during House's childhood. One place in which his father was stationed was
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. Another station was
Japan, where, at age 14, House discovered his vocation after
witnessing the respect given to a
buraku doctor who solved a case no other doctor could handle.
Dr. House loves his mother but hates his father, who he claims has an "insane moral compass," and deliberately attempts to avoid both parents.
After receiving his
undergraduate degree at
Johns Hopkins University, House studied medicine at
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, researching psychiatry and behavioral sciences until classmate Phillip Weber reported House for copying exam answers from him. Following his expulsion from Johns Hopkins, he applied and was accepted to
University of Michigan where he received his
M.D. and met
Lisa Cuddy, his future boss. There is a degree of
sexual tension between the two characters due to a one-night stand in the past.
About ten years before the series began, House entered into a relationship with Stacy Warner (
Sela Ward), a
constitutional lawyer. Five years later, during a game of golf, 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 (House was also unable to diagnose his own infarction). 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 couldn't forgive Stacy for making the decision, so she left him. House now suffers
chronic pain in his leg, and has to use a
cane to aid his walking.
When Stacy makes her first appearance in the series, she's married to a high school guidance counselor named Mark Warner.
Dr. James Wilson once says 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.
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." For his chronic leg pain, House takes
Vicodin every day, and as a result has developed an addiction to the drug. He concedes that he's an
addiction, but says that the addiction isn't a problem because it doesn't interfere with his work.
House openly talks about and makes references to pornography. In one episode, he returns the flirtations of a female underage patient ("
Lines in the Sand"), and is seen on at least two occasions engaging the services of a prostitute.
House frequently says "Everybody lies," but jokingly remarked that he was
lying when he said that in the first season finale. 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. Later in the same episode, Dr. Wilson suggests that House might have
Asperger Syndrome, which is characterized by a number of traits found in House, such as difficulty accepting the purpose of social rules, lack of concern for his physical appearance, and resistance to change.
House is a strong
non-conformist and gives little regard to how others perceive him.
House hasn't much of a social life and his only friend is Dr. James Wilson. Dr. Wilson's moving into House's apartment after his failed marriage in "
Sex Kills" symbolizes his taking emotional refuge in his friend. Although they frequently analyze and criticize each other's motives, Wilson has risked his career to protect House. House has quietly admitted, at several instances, that he's grateful for Wilson's presence, including referring to Wilson as his best friend.
Casting
Before Hugh Laurie auditioned for the role of Gregory House, he was filming
Flight of the Phoenix in
Namibia. Laurie planned to audition for the roles of both James Wilson and Gregory House. When Laurie read that Wilson was a character with a "handsome open face," he decided to audition solely for the role of House. After watching casting tapes for the
pilot episode,
Bryan Singer grew frustrated and refused to consider any more British actors because of their flawed American accents. However, when he saw Hugh Laurie's audition tape, not knowing who he was, 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. Laurie initially believed that James Wilson would be the protagonist of the show after reading the brief description of the character and didn't find out that House was the main character until he read the full script of the pilot episode. Prior to the airing of the series, the producers were also concerned that Laurie lacked
sex appeal to the viewers.
Concept and creation
Hugh Laurie describes House as a character who refuses to "obey the usual pieties of modern life" and expects to find a rare diagnosis when he's treating his patient. Producer Katie Jacobs views House as a static character who is accustomed to living in misery. Jacobs has said that Dr. Wilson, his only friend in the show, and House both avoid mature relationships, which brings the two closer together. The cane tricks that are seen throughout the series are created by Laurie himself.
Parallels to Sherlock Holmes
House's character is partly inspired by the fictional detective
Sherlock Holmes. Leonard has said that House and his character were originally intended to play the roles of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in the series although he believes that House's team has assumed the Watson role. House is addicted to
Vicodin and experiments with other drugs, while Holmes has a cocaine habit and smokes a pipe regularly. Both men are musicians (House plays piano and guitar; Holmes plays violin) and 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 also lives at 221B.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Dr Gregory House'.
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