So Neil Patrick Harris finally married his partner David Burtka and the whole world celebrated with him. It never ceases to amaze me how the actor is loved universally.
We all remember him as Doogie Howser – cue the oohs and aaahs of über cuteness – in the eponymously named 1980s American sit-com. Neil Patrick Harris (or NPH, as he is called by die-hard fans) was probably the only child actor who could have managed to suspend our disbelief so successfully that we thought a TV series about a 16-year-old doctor actually made sense.
This general suspension of disbelief lasted for all of four seasons, quite a feat consider-ing that nowadays any family production with such an improbable story-line would be laughed out of the studio before the pilot episode is over. And not in a good way either.
Fast-forward 25 years. NPH kept his blonde locks, his inno-cent blue eyes and also his ability to land the coolest roles in the history of Hollywood.
From Starship Troopers to Dr Horrible to Harold & Kumar, all the roles that have been bestowed on this particular actor have been the epitome of cool.
The question does kind of beg itself. Is NPH cool because he always plays cool roles... or do said roles become cool only because NPH is on the credits?
I please the latter. After all, he is “legen... wait for it and I hope you’re not lactose-intolerant... dairy”. Yep, NPH – under the guise of How I Met Your Mother’s Barney Stinson – was responsible for coining that particular phrase.
I struggle to find a role that NPH made a hash off and I fail – he was loveable even as a psychotic scientist. Dr Horrible’s Sing-a-long may not be as widely popular as NPH’s other roles, but since it first hit the web some five years ago it has gathered a massive cult following.
There’s singing and there’s dancing. There’s blood and there’s gore. There’s high notes and there’s bad rhyming couplets. And there’s NPH in the title role of Dr Horrible, aspiring super villain.
The mini-series was directed by Joss Whedon and in 2008 won the People’s Choice Award for Favourite Online Sensation.
His general awesomeness extends beyond the big and small screens
Dr Horrible went on to net a fleet of other awards in the 2009 Streamy Awards for web television: Audience Choice Award for Best Web Series, Best Directing for a Comedy Web Series, Best Writing for a Comedy Web Series, Best Male Actor in a Comedy Web Series, Best Editing, Best Cinematography and Best Original Music.
His general awesomeness extends beyond the big and small screens. He was one of the few to take on Simon “I’m the all-judging god of all artistic talent” Cowell and win.
When Cowell rudely informed a particularly golden voiced The X Factor contestant that she wasn’t even remotely interesting as a performer, it was our NPH who rushed in to the rescue with a decided “I don’t agree with that”.
His statement spurred the other judges to grow some spine and voice their disagreement, leading Cowell to famously state in an amusingly irritated voice: “We have mutiny on the panel here.”
The girl made it, as everyone else clapped while Cowell scowled his way through the show. For that alone, NPH is our hero.
Given all this, no wonder he was part of Time’s list of 100 most influential people in 2010.
Time credited him with changing society’s perception of gay men. And now, finally, he got his happy ending and the world’s a better place for it.
ramona.depares@timesofmalta.com