I took my chances on less than two days notice and drove from San Diego to L.A. on the off chance that I might get into the room where he was doing a Q and A interview. I really didn't expect that I would get in to see him. We set it up as mini family get away. I was all set for a let down.

Nobody was more shocked than I was when I got lucky with about 150 other people. He spoke for about an hour and a half answering the moderator’s questions. He spoke a lot about various differences between American and English audiences. He talked alot about his admiration for his cast mates and the creator's of House and generally gave them all glowing reports. He also discussed a lot of his other bodies of work over the years.

He was very charming and gracious to the moderator. And my eyes did lock onto one image that I've decided to keep forever. At one point in the interview, in the middle of their discussion, the moderator began struggling to open a bottled water. She interrupted him and asked him if he would mind opening it. He quite chivalrously paused in the middle of what he was saying and took the bottle from her and opened it as if it were nothing to him. He told her she was quite welcome.

Then it was opened up to the audience to ask questions of their own. I was too caught in the headlights to think of anything intelligent to ask, so I just stayed put. I remember a lot of people asking a lot of really great questions so it was good to just listen. I do remember one question about how he felt about the whole Cameron/House relationship and he said he was twice her age and weighed twice as much as she did. I found his answer amusing. I sort of gleaned from it and the half blushing expression and pause that preceded it that idea made him slightly uncomfortable.

He was very kind to my daughter. She waited in line to ask a question of him too. She asked about the ball he stole from the kid in the airport in "Failure to Communicate". She had wondered how he got it. He said he couldn’t remember but he hated to disappoint her and he made a story up. He said, "There were actually two balls-- and it was a slite of hand trick-- and the boy actually still has his"

After the interview he was ready with a pen and made himself available to sign autographs. I think he was a little surprised that so many of us did wait behind to speak with him. A long line formed in front of him. I couldn't make myself go forward. I said as much about feeling like I was being rude and I was just about to turn away. Britty (my daughter) yanked the magazine I had brought to be autographed from my hand and took off. Before I knew exactly what had happened she dove beneath a stair railing where he was standing.

Just like that, she was right up to him shoulder to shoulder. If she had been any faster she wouldn’t have had time to brake and Mr. Laurie would have been flat on his back. She stood there quietly and waited for me to make my way up the line. She stood there right next to him up on the stairs which made her taller than he was, and therefore, taller than anybody else in the room. She was fairly confident that I could not chicken out leave the place without her. When I arrived at the front of the line she handed him the magazine. My husband called out that it was for her mother because there was just the slightest look of bafflement over being handed a Playboy by a 12 year old girl. He googled his eyes and raised his eyebrows at her and then asked her in a very soft tone who to make the autograph out to.

Lets stop here for a bit. I need to explain this more fully. A lot of people think it would be his beautiful eyes that would make you freeze, but for both of us, it was his voice. In person he is very soft spoken, though, his tone is deeper then it comes across on television. It is very cultured but warm and soothing at the same time. He could launch into a detailed account of the history of clock making and I would listen. Raptly, I might add. It is a very nice thing. I wish I could describe it better because it seemed to catch so many of us off gaurd. It is just different in person. My American ears found it exotic and I had to adjust them to his pitch.

The soothing quality of his voice actually seemed to be Britty’s undoing. She froze. Jasper/House had spoken to her and had managed to sound just exactly like...neither of them! I don't think she was expecting it.

I called out my name. He glanced up and looked directly into my eyes. Sigh... He repeated my name back to me. I thought that the sound of my name on his lips made it sound like a really pretty thing! I bet he could have called out Gertrude or Agnes and made them sound soft and feminine and lovely. He wrote
“Cynthia, Best!!, Hugh Laurie”.

I asked to shake his hand. He had to juggle the pen out of his right hand and it made a nice little stop in his mouth before making its way to his left hand. He smiled at me and did the eyeball thing and I remembered to let go of his hand. He turned back to Britty for the picture. He pressed his shoulder up against hers and tilted his head toward her and gave that wonderful rueful little smile of his. It is a really great picture and it is my favorite thing of all. I framed it and called it "Beauty and the Brit". The fun is deciding who is who.

We saw him in the parking lot as he got into his car. My daughter frantically rolled down her window and found her voice again. She called out "Goodbye Mr. Laurie!!” This was just the end for me. Something about it caused the last bit of my brain to leak out of my ear. It pressed start on some ancient tape and started it spinning on a rusty reel in my head. Something about "well bred young ladies and pointing and shouting..." but I forgot how it ended so I found it totally useless. All of these things combined to freeze my face into a look that can only be described as a-- "Holy cat poop Batman, looky there, that's Hugh Laurie...I like ice cream...BEEP...This person is temporarily offline" expression. Which I can only imagine was a very intelligent looking sight to behold. He turned around and looked right at Britty and tossed her a smile. I am sure the smile would have included me if I hadn't been stupidly pretending that I wasn't staring. Which, of course, I most certainly was doing. At his shoes...his lovely shoes. STUPID TAPE!! Words cannot express my irritation with myeslf so I will just end my account here.

He was so nice to everyone that I saw him with. He came off as engaging and charming and it seemed like he tried to give everyone a moment of individual attention when he spoke to them. He seemed like a very nice man. It will be one of those moments in my life that I am sure I will never forget.

Cyndi and Britty's personal photos. Please click on thumbnail for full view.

Photos, Man About Town
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