# Name some "American Hugh Lauries," please... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 28, 2010, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-american-hugh-lauries-please/530783 "2010-02-28T22:52:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-american-hugh-lauries-please/530783/21 "2010-03-01T02:59:19Z")
Iggy Pop may qualify as another music example. It’s my impression just from having traveled in the UK/Europe and talking to Brits/Europeans in the US that he’s pretty well-known there, even among people in their 20s. It’s been my experience in the US that among people my age (late 20s) or even a few years older then Iggy has something of a cult following but is generally considered B-list at best as a celebrity. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-american-hugh-lauries-please/530783/22 "2010-03-01T03:06:09Z")
> [@Hrududu](#): > > Does John Barrowman count? Does being born in [Glasgow](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Barrowman#Early_life) make him American? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-american-hugh-lauries-please/530783/23 "2010-03-01T03:14:07Z")
There were several famous Hawaiian born Sumo wrestlers whom I suspect were better known in Japan then in the US. ---
**Author:** ![statsman1982](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@statsman1982](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/statsman1982)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-american-hugh-lauries-please/530783/24 "2010-03-01T03:18:10Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > How about [Terry Gilliam](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Gilliam)? > > eta > > or [Lloyd Grossman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loyd_Grossman)? Ignorance fought on Gilliam. I never knew he wasn’t British! Admittedly, I haven’t watched much Monty Python. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-american-hugh-lauries-please/530783/25 "2010-03-01T03:24:46Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Dean Reed is probably as close as you can get to the requirements of the OP: > > [Dean Reed - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Reed) (Psst! See the post right before yours!) ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-american-hugh-lauries-please/530783/26 "2010-03-01T03:24:57Z")
> [@statsman1982](#): > > Yes, I said as much in the OP. But I doubt the average American would have known who the hell he was until House became a hit show. Sure he played the Dad in Stuart Little and had some other roles such as in _Flight of the Phoenix_, but he’s undeniably more famous now for House. Like I said in the OP. Yes, House made him much more famous in the US. Not in the UK. Hugh Laurie was already A-league famous before House, or at least B-league with longevity promoting him to A-league, and House has never been shown on terrestrial TV - it’s quite popular here, but not so much that everyone would know the lead actor. So the average American knows him more now. The average Brit doesn’t. He was already damn famous in the UK. I thought your OP was about people who became more famous out of their home country than in? I’m not sure John Barrowman counts, exactly, either; he was born in Scotland and holds very strongly to his Scots roots - I saw a ‘who do you think you are’ show where he was with his family and he was talking in definite Glasgow Scots. He’s only ever been famous in the UK. He’s American, yeah, but kinda like Greg Rusedski is. 😃 The comedians mentioned definitely count. Ruby Wax was HUGE in the 80s in the UK. Also Loyd Grossman. (Not a typo). Bizarrely, the lift from the Covent Garden tube platforms to the surface (you have to get the lift - it’s much too far for stairs or escalators; the stairs are for emergency use only) has Loyd Grossman’s voice telling you about local sights and not to use that station on Sunday afternoons. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-american-hugh-lauries-please/530783/27 "2010-03-01T03:36:15Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Pink Martini, a Portland-based band, had a major hit in France and Turkey, “Sympatique.” They can’t get arrested here in the States, although I love 'em! Just to say that AFAIK they weren’t huge in the UK, either, but I really love their version of Que Sera Sera. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-american-hugh-lauries-please/530783/28 "2010-03-01T03:42:10Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > Yes, House made him much more famous in the US. Not in the UK. Hugh Laurie was already A-league famous before House, or at least B-league with longevity promoting him to A-league, and House has never been shown on terrestrial TV - it’s quite popular here, but not so much that everyone would know the lead actor. Yeah…I suspect if you mentioned Hugh Laurie to an American the reaction would be ‘the guy from House, right?’…meanwhile, mention House to a Brit, and the reaction would be ‘that’s Hugh Laurie’s show, right?’ ---
**Author:** ![kevlaw](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kevlaw/32/2281_2.png) [@kevlaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevlaw)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-american-hugh-lauries-please/530783/29 "2010-03-01T03:47:40Z")
Bill Bryson ---
**Author:** ![statsman1982](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@statsman1982](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/statsman1982)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-american-hugh-lauries-please/530783/30 "2010-03-01T04:00:51Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Yeah…I suspect if you mentioned Hugh Laurie to an American the reaction would be ‘the guy from House, right?’…meanwhile, mention House to a Brit, and the reaction would be ‘that’s Hugh Laurie’s show, right?’ Well, I guess I didn’t know how big he was in the UK. I was thinking he was Jamie-Foxx-circa-1991-\*In-Living-Color-\*before-_Ray_-kind of famous there. People knew him, but he wasn’t top billed. I guess I need to be much more specific with my posts from now on, and know what the hell I"m talking about. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-american-hugh-lauries-please/530783/31 "2010-03-01T04:37:01Z")
> [@statsman1982](#): > > Well, I guess I didn’t know how big he was in the UK. I was thinking he was Jamie-Foxx-circa-1991-\*In-Living-Color-\*before-_Ray_-kind of famous there. People knew him, but he wasn’t top billed. > > I guess I need to be much more specific with my posts from now on, and know what the hell I"m talking about. It’s fair enough that you didn’t know how well-known he was over here before House. He was a household name (heh) twenty years ago; he did go out of circulation for a while, but everyone knew who he was. I’ve seen him on British panel shows since, introduced in an ironic way as being famous in the US, because it’s like they’re introducing someone who’s already damn well known _but_ with the reputation of also being newly famous. If that makes sense. Jim From Neighbours. Aussie bloke, recognisable face to anyone who ever watched more than five minutes of TV in the late eighties. We grew up with with him - he was Scott’s Dad! Alan Dale, that’s it! Now he’s on pretty much every major syndicated US show, hyperbole allowed. We will always, but always, think of him as Jim From Neighbours but he’s successful in the US as something more than that now. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-american-hugh-lauries-please/530783/32 "2010-03-01T04:42:15Z")
> [@statsman1982](#): > > I don’t get the connection between the link and the person I just looked up on Wikipedia. 😕 Yeah sorry, but you found her anyway. And you don’t happen to want to buy a tennis racquet, do you? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-american-hugh-lauries-please/530783/33 "2010-03-01T05:14:39Z")
What about Natalie and Nicole Appleton? Basically unknown in the United States but fairly famous pop-stars in the UK. But there’s the issue of whether they count as Americans; they apparently lived in the United States for much of their childhoods but they were born in Canada. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-american-hugh-lauries-please/530783/34 "2010-03-01T10:15:22Z")
James Marsters is getting some pay in the UK, ironically, after having played a character who is UK accented on USA TV… ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-american-hugh-lauries-please/530783/35 "2010-03-01T10:33:21Z")
[P. J. Proby](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._J._Proby) Jimi Hendrix and Chrissie Hynde became very big in the U.S., of course, but both were successful in Britain first. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-american-hugh-lauries-please/530783/36 "2010-03-01T14:52:56Z")
Krokodil writes: \> (Psst! See the post right before yours!) Excuse me, Krokodil. That was a very confusing thing that I did. I read your post. I was agreeing with you, and even more I was saying that in mentioning Dean Reed you had probably picked the best example of the category in the OP that any of us would ever be able to come up with. I thought that I should add a link to Dean Reed’s Wikipedia entry because most Americans have never heard of him. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-american-hugh-lauries-please/530783/37 "2010-03-01T15:20:59Z")
[Eddie Constantine](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0176061/). In his peak, he was one of France’s most popular actors (and singers). He’s completely unknown in the US (he was born in LA, but became a French citizen after his movie success). ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-american-hugh-lauries-please/530783/38 "2010-03-01T16:41:02Z")
[Dean Reed](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Reed) was the most popular singer in East Germany. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-american-hugh-lauries-please/530783/39 "2010-03-01T21:38:19Z")
[Rodriguez](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixto_Diaz_Rodriguez), the folk singer, seems to be virtually unknown in America, but he’s _huge_ in South Africa. Bigger than Dylan or Baez or any of those, I’d say. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-american-hugh-lauries-please/530783/40 "2010-03-02T01:16:17Z")
[Don Lane](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Lane) had some success in the US, but when he moved to Australia he became huge here. He had a very popular long-running night time variety show on TV. Personally I couldn’t stand him. Apart from anything else, he was friends with Uri Geller and would defend psychics from criticism. Infamously, he had a run-in with [James Randi](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIPqUJiiMwc). I hope that clip shows the whole incident - I couldn’t bring myself to watch it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-american-hugh-lauries-please/530783.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-american-hugh-lauries-please/530783.md?page=3)