Hugh Laurie, gentleman du Blues. Madame Figaro, novembre 2013

[vicpei]

Hugh Laurie, Blues gentleman.

The British actor, famous for his Dr House character, is now an author, composer and singer. A portrait. For almost 10 years, the oh-so-British actor was Dr House, the most irresistible antihero in the world-most-watched TV show. Nowadays the 50-something wonderboy, also a L'Oreal spokeperson, writes, composes and

Comments

[tourmaline1973]

Thank you very much for this. I read the original article and was pleasantly surprised how much I could follow, given that my French isn't great these days. Thank you for filling in the few gaps I had.

[waylandsmithy]

Thank you vicpei; I could only get the bones of it in the original.

[poeia]

This must have been a monster to translate -- the writer loved analogies and it is full of idioms. Thank you so much.

Two suggestions. "I am a cream of a man" was probably "I am a cream puff" or "I am a cream puff of a man." We use the pastry that is full of cream to describe someone soft and easy to push around. And, piano "ranges" are called "scales."

(And one typo: " grab the Times ad sit by the window" is missing the n in "and.")

Thanks again.

[vicpei]

Fixed the typo and the scales. I left "a cream of a man" intentionally, as the French expression says, "je suis une crème d'homme", which means, sweet, with absolutely no nastiness, and close to perfection - intended as "the man you would dream of" - more than just easy :)

[poeia]

How nice. (I almost typed "how sweet" but didn't want the pun.) Much better than a cream puff, which is a bit of a pushover.

Hugh's article

[drdiagnostic]

First, thank you so much for translating. This article to me proves how complicated and intriguing he is. It's so sad to hear that he doesn't consider himself smart. From interviews I've seen and things I've read, he's brilliant in my eyes. Also, it has to be hard to find out if people appreciate your identity as a blues musician or if they are just seeing House. I had made this observation on Twitter. He wants to be seen as a musician right now and not as House, even though he is grateful that the show afforded him the opportunity to live his dream. In all honesty, watching him concert I didn't think of his alter ego once. I saw Hugh Laurie blues musician.

Every time a read a an interview, I am always intrigued. I did see his self-deprecating personality all over the place in this, lol. I am glad that the show boosted his confidence. I think it gave him the ability to believe that he could do anything, which is wonderful!

He truly is an inspiring individual. Thanks again for sharing the translation.

Orphanage

[ext_2591052]

Pray, tell: what orphanage does he fund in Uganda?

Re: Orphanage

[vicpei]

Hi, I have no idea. This is the translation of an article in a French Newspaper. The orphanage is the journalist's saying. For what I know, HL said his L'Oreal money was enough to support a school in Africa, and I have heard too that he gave it to Comic Relief, which takes care of such things. Maybe it would be better to ask Hugh Laurie's people about it. :)