Gregory House
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2008-07-16T20:07:13Z
Deamon138
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/* Characterization */ fixed link
{{other|Gregory House (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox character|
| color = #d6d6ff
| name = Dr. Gregory House
| image = [[Image:HouseGregoryHouse.png|250px]]
|
| time = 2004—
| born = [[June 11]] [[1959]]<ref name="no reason" /><ref>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)]]''.</ref>
| specialty = [[Infectious disease]] and [[nephrology]]<ref name="razor">{{cite episode | title= Occam's Razor| episodelink= Occam's Razor (House episode)| series= House, M.D. | serieslink= House (TV series) | airdate = 2004-11-30| season = 1| number = 3}}</ref>
| occupation = Head of the Department of Diagnostic Medicine
| first = "[[Pilot (House)|Pilot]]"
| last =
| age =
| family = John House (father) <br />Blythe House (mother)
| portrayer = [[Hugh Laurie]]
| imdb_id = 0015927
}}
'''Gregory House''', [[Doctor of Medicine|M.D.]], is a [[fictional character]] and [[protagonist]] of the [[Fox network|Fox]] [[medical drama]] ''[[House (TV series)|House]]''. Portrayed by [[Hugh Laurie]], the character is a [[wiktionary:maverick|maverick]] medical [[genius]] who heads a team of [[diagnosis|diagnosticians]] at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. House's character has been described as a "[[misanthropy|misanthrope]]", a "[[cynic]]" and a "[[wiktionary:curmudgeon|curmudgeon]]", the last of which was named one of the top television words of 2006 in honor of the character.<ref>{{cite web | last= | first= | title=TeleWORDS - 'Refugee' Tops 'Desperation' and 'Camp Cupcake' as Top Television Buzzword of the 2005 | work= | publisher= Global Language Monitor | date=[[2006-12-18]] | url=http://www.languagemonitor.com/telewords/ | format= | accessdate=2007-07-12}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{Citation | last=Kristine | first=Diane | publication-date=[[2005-04-23]] | title=Ending Season Three With a Bang? An Interview with House Writer Lawrence Kaplow| periodical=Blog Critics| url=http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/04/23/073606.php| accessdate=2007-10-13}}</ref> 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]].<ref name="Holmes">{{Citation | last=O'Hare| first=Kate | publication-date=[[2005-01-05]] | title=Building 'House' Is Hard Work| periodical=Zap2It| url=http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,271%7C92770%7C1%7C,00.html| accessdate=2007-06-30}}</ref><ref name="radio">[http://www.radiotimes.com/content/show-features/house/house-and-holmes-parallels/ House and Holmes parallels - Radio Times, January 2006]</ref>
==Character biography==
[[Image:HouseRightDamagedLeg.JPG|thumb|left|House's thigh, scarred from infarction surgery]]
Gregory House was born to John and Blythe House.<ref name="no reason" /> His [[Social Security number]] was issued in [[Ohio]].<ref name="no reason">{{cite episode | title = No Reason | episodelink = No Reason (House episode)| series = House, M.D. | serieslink = House (TV series) | airdate = 2006-05-23| season = 2| number = 24}} According to his listed social security number (295-13-7865) on the hospital identification bracelet. House's full name is listed on his chart when he reviews it in his hospital bed.</ref><ref>This Social Security number is not valid, as the area 295 has not released SSNs with a group value of 13. [http://www.ssa.gov/employer/highgroup.txt Social Security High Values]</ref> House is a "[[military brat (U.S. subculture)|military brat]]", as his father served as a [[United States Marine Corps|Marine Corps]] pilot and transferred often to other bases during House's childhood.<ref name="daddy's boy">{{cite episode | title = Daddy's Boy| episodelink = Daddy's Boy (House episode)| series = House, M.D. | serieslink = House (TV series) | airdate = 2005-11-08| season = 2| number = 5}}</ref> 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.<ref name="clueless">{{cite episode | title = Clueless| episodelink = Clueless (House episode)| series = House, M.D. | serieslink = House (TV series) | airdate = 2006-03-28| season = 2| number = 15}}</ref> Another station was [[Japan]], where, at age 14, House discovered his vocation after [[Burakumin#Film and fiction|witnessing the respect]] given to a [[Burakumin|buraku]] doctor who solved a case no other doctor could handle.<ref name="comaguy">{{cite episode | title = Son of Coma Guy| episodelink = Son of Coma Guy| series = House, M.D. | serieslink = House (TV series) | airdate = 2006-11-14| season = 3| number = 7}}</ref>
Dr. House loves his mother but hates his father, who he claims has an "insane moral compass," and deliberately attempts to avoid both parents.<ref name="daddy's boy" /> At one point, House tells a story of his parents leaving him with his grandmother whose punishments constituted [[Child abuse|abuse]]. He later confesses that it was his father who abused him.<ref name="oneday">{{cite episode | title = One Day, One Room| episodelink = One Day, One Room| series = House, M.D. | serieslink = House (TV series) | airdate = 2007-01-30| season = 3| number = 12}}</ref>
After receiving his [[Undergraduate education|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.<ref name="distractions">{{cite episode | title = Distractions| episodelink = Distractions (House episode)| series = House, M.D. | serieslink = House (TV series) | airdate = 2006-02-14| season = 2| number = 12}}</ref> Following his expulsion from Johns Hopkins, he applied and was accepted to [[University of Michigan]] where he received his [[Doctor of Medicine|M.D.]] and met [[Lisa Cuddy]], his future boss.<ref name="humpty">{{cite episode | title = Humpty Dumpty| episodelink = Humpty Dumpty (House episode)| series = House, M.D. | serieslink = House (TV series) | airdate = 2005-09-27| season = 2| number = 3}}</ref> There is a degree of [[sexual tension]] between the two characters due to a one-night stand in the past.<ref name="topsecret">{{cite episode | title = Top Secret | episodelink = Top Secret (House episode)| series = House, M.D. | serieslink = House (TV series) | airdate = 2007-03-27| season = 3 | number = 16}}
: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 ...</ref>
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Steve McQueen.png|200 px|thumb|House's pet rat, [[List of House characters#Steve McQueen|Steve]].]] -->
About ten years before the series began, House entered into a relationship with Stacy Warner ([[Sela Ward]]), a [[constitutional law]]yer. 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 femoris muscle|quadriceps]] muscles to become [[necrosis|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 she left him.<ref name="threestories">{{cite episode | title = Three Stories| episodelink = Three Stories (House episode)| series = House, M.D. | serieslink = House (TV series) | airdate = 2005-05-17| season = 1| number = 21}}</ref> House now suffers [[chronic pain]] in his leg, and has to use a [[cane]] to aid his walking. At the beginning of season three, House is able to walk (and run) properly due to the ketamine treatment in the last episode of season two, in which House is shot by a "madman" and is rushed to the OR. He asks Cameron to tell Cuddy to give him ketamine treatment (which he had learned in a near-death hallucination). However, in an episode or two, the chronic pain in his leg comes back and House starts taking Vicodin once again. He starts using his cane once again, and whenever someone asks him about it, he ignores it or digresses to another topic.
When Stacy makes her first appearance in the series, she is married to a high school guidance counselor named Mark Warner.<ref name="honeymoon" /> 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.
==Characterization==
House's character frequently shows his cunning and biting wit, enjoys picking people apart, and often mocks their weaknesses.<ref name="scorn"/> House accurately deciphers people's motives and histories from aspects of their personality and appearance.<ref>{{cite web| last=Holland | first =Roger | title =House: Season Four Premiere| work = | publisher = PopMatters| date =[[2006-05-01]] | url =http://www.popmatters.com/pm/tv/reviews/48955/house/| accessdate =2007-09-27}}</ref> [[James Wilson (House)|Dr. James Wilson]] says that while "some doctors have the [[Messianic complex|messiah complex]] — they need to save the world", House has "a [[Rubik's Cube|Rubik's]] complex" — he needs "to solve the puzzle."<ref name="romantic">{{cite web
|url= http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/10/30/114407.php|title= Dr. Gregory House: Romantic Hero|accessdate= 2008-02-09| author= Burnett, Barbara |date= [[2007-10-30]] |publisher= [[Blogcritics]]}}</ref> House typically waits as long as possible before meeting his patients.<ref name="scorn" /> 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 is demonstrated in a scene where House diagnoses an entire waiting room full of patients in little over one minute on his way out of the hospital clinic.<ref name="sports">{{cite episode | title = Sports Medicine| episodelink = Sports Medicine (House episode)| series = House, M.D. | serieslink = House (TV series) | airdate = 2005-02-22| season = 1| number = 12}}</ref>
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, <!-- Stacy was not his wife, before changing this, please see [http://www.usanetwork.com/series/house/theshow/characterprofiles/ward/index.html] or [http://www.fox.com/house/recaps/121.htm]-->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."<ref name="honeymoon">{{cite episode | title = Honeymoon| episodelink = Honeymoon (House episode)| series = House, M.D. | serieslink = House (TV series) | airdate = 2005-05-24| season = 1| number = 22}}</ref><ref name="needtoknow">{{cite episode | title = Need to Know| episodelink = Need to Know (House episode)| series = House, M.D. | serieslink = House (TV series) | airdate = 2005-02-07| season = 2| number = 11}}</ref> For his chronic leg pain, House takes [[Vicodin]] every day, and as a result has developed an addiction to the drug.<ref>{{Citation | last=Kristine | first=Diane | publication-date=[[2005-10-24]] | title=Constructing House: An Interview With House, M.D. Writer Lawrence Kaplow | periodical=Blog Critics| url=http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/10/24/213107.php| accessdate=2007-10-12}}</ref> He concedes that he has an [[drug addiction|addiction]], but says that the addiction is not a problem because it does not interfere with his work.<ref name="Detox">{{cite episode | title = Detox| episodelink = Detox (House episode)| series = House, M.D. | serieslink = House (TV series) | airdate = 2005-02-15| season = 1| number = 11}}</ref>
House openly talks about and makes references to pornography.<ref name="Babies">{{cite episode | title = Babies & Bathwater| episodelink = Babies & Bathwater| series = House, M.D. | serieslink = House (TV series) | airdate = 2005-04-19| season = 1| number = 18}}</ref> In one episode, he returns the flirtations of a female underage patient ("[[Lines in the Sand (House episode)|Lines in the Sand]]"), and is seen on at least one occasion engaging the services of a prostitute.<ref name="distractions" />
He is an [[atheist]] and a [[nihilism|nihilist]], openly mocking colleagues or patients who express any level of belief in any aspect of religion.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/11/12/111004.php|title= The Church of House|accessdate=2008-02-09 |last= Kristine|first= Diane|date= [[2007-11-12]]|work= |publisher=[[Blogcritics]]}}</ref><ref name="church">{{cite web
|url= http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/10/30/114407.php|title= Dr. Gregory House: Romantic Hero|accessdate= 2008-02-09| author= Burnett, Barbara |date= [[2007-10-30]] |publisher= [[Blogcritics]]}}</ref> In [[Three Stories]] he declares that he prefers not to believe in an afterlife because it would make life "a test".
House frequently says "Everybody lies," but jokingly remarked that he was [[liar paradox|lying when he said that]] in the first season finale.<ref name="fullhouse">{{cite online journal | last = Jensen | first = Jeff | year = 2007 | month = April | title = Full 'House' | journal = [[Entertainment Weekly]] | volume = 928 | url =http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20016394,00.html | accessdate = 2007-09-12}}</ref> 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, although he later explains that he doesn't actually agree with that diagnosis.
House is a strong [[non-conformist]] and gives little regard to how others perceive him.<ref name="badmood" /> 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 a t-shirt. He avoids wearing the standard white lab coat to avoid patients recognizing him as a doctor.<ref name="pilot">{{cite episode | title = Pilot | episodelink = Pilot (House)| series = House, M.D. | serieslink = House (TV series) | airdate = 2004-11-16| season = 1| number = 1}}</ref>
House has not much of a social life and his only friend is Dr. James Wilson.<ref name="romantic" /><ref name="badmood" /> Wilson knew House before the infarction, and looked after him when House's relationship with Stacy ended.<ref name="needtoknow">{{cite episode | title = Need to Know| episodelink = Need to Know (House episode)| series = House, M.D. | serieslink = House (TV series) | airdate = 2006-02-07| season = 2| number = 11}}</ref> Dr. Wilson's moving into House's apartment after his failed marriage in "[[Sex Kills]]" symbolizes his taking emotional refuge in his friend.<ref name="Katie">{{cite web| last =Ryan | first =Maureen | title ='House'-a-palooze, Part 3: Katie Jacobs | work = The Watcher| publisher = ''[[Chicago Tribune]]''| date =[[2006-05-01]] | url =http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2006/05/houseapalooze_p.html | format = | accessdate =2007-10-12}}</ref> 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 is 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 (2004 film)|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.<ref>{{Citation | last=Byrne | first=Bridget| publication-date=[[2004-11-23]] | title=British actor set for U.S. fame with offbeat M.D. role| periodical=[[The Press Enterprise]] | publication-place= [[Riverside, California]] | publisher= Press-Enterprise Company| url=http://www.pe.com/entertainment/stories/PE_Fea_Ent_housestar.a1444.html | accessdate=2007-10-09
}}</ref> After watching casting tapes for the [[Television pilot|pilot episode]], [[Bryan Singer]] grew frustrated and refused to consider any more British actors because of their flawed American accents.<ref name="badmood">{{Citation | last=Winters | first=Rebecca | publication-date=[[2005-09-04]] | title=Doctor Is in ... a Bad Mood | periodical=[[Time (magazine)]] | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101308,00.html | issn=0040-781X | accessdate=2007-10-09
}}</ref> 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.<ref>''[[Radio Times]]'' magazine, [[23 March]] [[2007]]</ref> 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.<ref name="Inside"> ''Inside the Actor's Studio'' Hugh Laurie Interview, BRAVO Network, [2006]</ref> Prior to the airing of the series, the producers were also concerned that Laurie lacked [[Sexual attraction|sex appeal]] to the viewers.<ref name="badmood" /> For his portrayal of Gregory House, Hugh Laurie has won [[Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama|Best Actor in a Television Drama Series]] from the [[Golden Globe Award|Golden Globe]] in 2006 and 2007, and [[Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series|Best Actor from Drama Series]] from [[Screen Actors Guild Awards]].<ref>[http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Entertainment/story?id=1512758 Loose Lips Backstage at Golden Globes]</ref>
==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 is treating his patient.<ref name="fullhouse" /><ref name="badmood" /> As a protagonist, many aspects of his personality are the antithesis of what might be expected from a [[physician|doctor]].<ref name="scorn">{{Citation
| last=Poniewozik | first=James | author-link= | publication-date= [[2004-11-22]] | year=2004 | title=Scorn is the Best Medicine | periodical=Time (magazine) |publisher=Time Inc. | issue=Time (magazine) | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,995688,00.html | issn=0040-781X | accessdate=2007-09-28}}</ref> Producer Katie Jacobs views House as a static character who is accustomed to living in misery.<ref>{{Citation | last=Kristine | first=Diane | publication-date=[[2005-04-23]] | title=Behind "Half-Wit" and Beyond: An Interview with House Executive Producer Katie Jacobs| periodical=Blog Critics| url=http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/03/05/110433.php| accessdate=2007-03-05}}</ref> Jacobs has said that Dr. Wilson, his only friend in the show, and House both avoid mature relationships, which brings the two closer together.<ref name="messed up" /> [[Robert Sean Leonard]] has said that Dr. Wilson is one of the few who voluntarily maintains a relationship with House, because his character is free to criticize him.<ref name="messed up" />
Despite his sardonic personality, [[Lisa Edelstein]] says House is a character who is reliant on people surrounding him.<ref name="fullhouse" /> Edelstein says this characteristic is portrayed in the third season, during which his medical career is at a jeopardy due to investigations by Detective Michael Tritter who arrests him for possessing narcotics. House's legal trouble ends when Edelstein's character Lisa Cuddy commits perjury during his hearing.
Adopting an American accent for his role has been difficult for Laurie, who says words such as "coronary artery" are particularly tricky to pronounce.<ref>{{cite web| last =Mann | first =Dennis | title =Hugh Laurie Makes a House Call | work = | publisher = ''WebMD''| date =[[2006-12-18]] | url =http://men.webmd.com/features/hugh-laurie-interview?page=1| format = | accessdate =2007-10-12}}</ref> The cane tricks that are seen throughout the series are created by Laurie himself.<ref name="messed up">{{cite web| last =Ryan | first =Maureen | title ='House'-a-palooza: On Omar Epps' Emmy bid, Wilson's messed-up life and stupid cane tricks | work = The Watcher| publisher = ''[[Chicago Tribune]]''| date =[[2006-05-01]] | url =http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2006/05/house_isnt_wait.html | format = | accessdate =2007-10-12}}</ref>
===Parallels to Sherlock Holmes===
House's character is partly inspired by the fictional detective [[Sherlock Holmes]].<ref name="Holmes" /> The name "House" is a play on "Holmes" (a [[homophone]] of "homes").<ref>{{cite news |first= Wendell|last= Wittler|authorlink= |coauthors= |title= Living in a ‘House’ built for one|url= http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7518037|work= |publisher= |date= [[2005-04-18]]|accessdate=2007-10-12}}</ref> 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.<ref name="RSL">{{cite web| last =Ryan | first =Maureen | title ='House'-a-palooza, part 2: Robert Sean Leonard | work = The Watcher| publisher = ''[[Chicago Tribune]]''| date =[[2006-05-01]] | url =http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2006/05/houseapalooza_p.html | format = | accessdate =2007-10-12}}</ref> 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.<ref name="fullhouse" /> The name of House's shooter in "[[No Reason (House)|No Reason]]", Jack Moriarty, coincides with Sherlock Holmes' adversary, [[Professor Moriarty|Professor James Moriarty]].<ref name="radio" /><ref>{{Citation | last=Kristine | first=Diane | publication-date=[[2006-05-24]] | title=TV Review: House Season Finale - "No Reason"| periodical=Blog Critics |url=http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/05/24/011244.php | accessdate=2007-10-09
}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist|2}}
==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
* [http://www.fox.com/house/ Fox's ''House'' Site]
* {{Tv.com show|id=22374|title=House}}
* [http://tviv.org/House%2C_M.D./Gregory_House House on TVIV]
* [[wikia:House:Gregory House|Gregory House]] at [[wikia:House:Main Page|House Wiki]]
* [http://www.politedissent.com/house_pd.html Articles and discussions about the accuracy of the medical aspect of the series]
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[[Category:House (TV series) characters]]
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[[Category:Fictional drug users]]
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