 |
In France, House star Hugh Laurie is right up there among such literary luminaries as Jean-Paul Sartre, Jules Verne and, oui, Victor Hugo.
The British star's novel Tout Est Sous Contrôle, a translation of his 1996 thriller The Gun Seller, is currently No. 2 on France's best sellers list, according to global news agency Agence France-Presse.
The novel, a James Bond-like spy spoof, has sold more than 100,000 copies since its release in February by a little-known French publishing house Sonatine.
And though the success comes 13 years after it was original published – and in another language – Laurie will happily take it.
"It's incredible to have taken this long," the actor said during a recent roundtable in Paris organized by French newspaper Le Parisien. But he called it a wonderful "present."
Laurie now joins the ranks of other Hollywood stars with overseas appeal like Jessica Simpson, whose 2007 film Blonde Ambition was a No. 1 hit in the Ukraine after bombing back in the States.
And the granddaddy of all international stars? David Hasselhoff, who topped the German pop charts with a No. 1 hit song, "Looking For Freedom," in 1989 – a tune perfectly in sync with the fall of the Berlin Wall.
• Reporting by PETER MIKELBANK
JOSH & FERGIE: ROCKED BY SCANDAL
Did he cheat with a stripper?
Married less than a year, the couple denies an Atlanta woman’s claims that she and Josh had a fling
Note that this week’s cover of PEOPLE may differ regionally
