Happy Birthday, Hugh!

Lucy Gordon was the first person to call my attention to Hugh Jackman.

We were working on the Silhouette Desire, Blood Brothers, that we wrote together back in 1999 -- she doing the story of the English lord Randall Stanton while I wrote about his Montana-bred cousin, rancher Gabe McBride -- and I was trying to get a picture of Gabe in my mind.

She said, "Hugh Jackman."

I said, "Who?"

She said, "He's an Australian actor playing Curly in Oklahoma in London now."

I said, "Yeah, right." And didn't think any more about it. Somehow I couldn't imagine an Aussie making a believable Curly -- except maybe in London he could.

But she was talking to a writer whose Dad was born in Oklahoma, whose grandfather was born in Oklahoma, whose great-grandmother was born in Oklahoma.

Off the top of my head I couldn't imagine that I could manage the suspension of disbelief.

I was wrong. I saw the DVD of Oklahoma and believed. But even before that I saw Hugh in Paperback Hero (thanks to Kate Walker's son who was working in a video store at the time and got me my own used copy). I was sold.

After I watched him as Jack the truck driving romance writer, I figured he could do anything. I've been pretty much right. I've now seen him be lots of different characters. I've had him in my head for countless heroes.

And since the New Zealand and Australian Romance Writers Conferences in 2004, Kate Walker and I have a running theme of Hugh-in-a-towel that allows us to use one photo to capture thousands of words we might have to say if we didn't have that picture.

I must say, I quite like that bit of shorthand.

It's Hugh's birthday today.

So happy birthday, Hugh. And thank you for all the inspiration -- not just in a towel but in so many other respects as well.

And Lucy, I'll never doubt you again.