C.C. Humphreys speaks on his doctor role on ABC’s new American drama series A Million Little Things and gives details about his upcoming book “Plague,” which hits the stores on November 5.
ATM: How much do you cherish friendship in your person life?
Humphreys: Very much. I have been very blessed all my life to have a large number of friends. Yet there is a big number of them, I am very close to them all. I was born in Canada and grew up in the States before moving to England. I have met a lot of friends back there that I have known since I was a teenager. This is the same everywhere I go. I have friends everywhere.
ATM: What can you say more about your role Dr. Martin?
Humphreys: He is an oncologist and also the guy who looks after the main character who unusually has breast cancer. I think only 1% of breast cancer are only in men. It was a well written role because they play against expectations. Instead of being serious about whether his cancer comes back or not, I was very serious about my salad dressing. It was a fun contrast to play.’
ATM: What are the flaws of your character?
Humphreys: Doctors are wonderful people generally. Some of the higher up doctors can have a great deal of confidence of borders on the ignorance. Dr. Martin is this. He does not have very good bedside matter obviously. The great doctors are the ones that immediately tune into what the person is hearing and relay this right away. When coming into a scene where a guy is concerned about his cancer coming back and you immediately take a phone to talk about salad dressing. Know that this guy is a certain kind of person.
ATM: Do you like salad dressing? What is your favorite kind of salad?
Humphreys: I make what he likes Old Balsamic vinaigrette. I make one based on what my dad used to make years ago, which garlic, Dijon mustard, and maple syrup.
ATM: Out of million little things, what is one thing that matters the most to you?
Humphreys: My family certainly, my wife and son.
ATM: What is so intriguing to you about storytelling?
Humphreys: I have always been a storyteller and dabbled in writing when I was young. I never thought I could do it. So, I channeled all of this into my acting and told other people’s stories for years. Until the point where I had some many stories in my head, I had to start telling my own. I started out as a playwright and my plays were originally produced in Canada and one in London. I always wanted to write novels and historical fiction. I thought of an idea and it took me a while to actually write it. It took off straight away, this was my first novel called The French Executioner. This was about the man who killed Anne Boleyn, who was the wife of Henry VIII in England. I am working on novel 17, which is a big fantasy epic. This is similar to a Game of Throne epic.
ATM: As a writer, how can you still be imaginative in your writing with also adding historical content?
Humphreys: This is the trick of the trade. I research everything well, so I have points to cling to. I use the research I do to really swing board me into my imagination. I have a new novel coming out in the States called Plague. This is a serial killer story about the Great Plague of London in 1665. This is a mystery crime novel. It won the Best Crime Award in Canada a few years back. I use the fact of the backdrop of the Great Plague and all the horrors of this to set this serial killer story. The imagination is stimulated by the history.
ATM: Express a life if being a writer or writing was not a dominant career in your life or this world.
Humphreys: It would be a very poor world. We would not have stories. Stories could be told of course in different ways. Even the greatest filmmakers acknowledge it all begins with a script. It has to be written down. I cannot image a world without it. I do not think entertainment would exist. Even reality television is scripted.
ATM: What if there was no such thing as history? What if our history was erased after every 5 minutes?
Humphreys: This would also be a very poor world. In some ways this could be good because we would start with our human characteristics of emotions. A lot of history weighs down on people and leads them to do terrible things. We see this every day on the news. This is a very interesting concept.