By Kelly Morgan,Staff Writer

He plays a hot doctor on ABC’s medical drama, “Grey’s Anatomy.” So hot, in fact, that he just earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for his work as Dr. Derek Shepherd.

Maine’s Patrick Dempsey is once again in the spotlight, and those who remember the actor from his days growing up in Buckfield and Turner are not surprised.

They expected the slight, ambitious teenager they remember to grow into a Hollywood leading man.

“There was no question he was going somewhere,” said Michael Miclon of Buckfield’s Oddfellow Theater, who worked with Dempsey in the early 1980s. Then 14 and 15 years old, they had a duet show called “The Gentlemen.”

Laughing as he remembered their first paid performance, in Turner, Miclon said, “I think I made $20 bucks.”

But Miclon got a lot out of the experience. He liked working with Dempsey, who was the older of the two. “You felt like you could do anything.”

It’s unlikely Dempsey, now 39 and with dozens of movie and television credits under his belt, works for such small change these days.

There were the early movies, such as “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “In the Mood” in 1987, which earned him teen idol status. In 2002, he played the well-to-do fianc of Reese Witherspoon in “Sweet Home Alabama.”

His television roles have included guest appearances on shows like “Will & Grace” and “The Practice,” and a lead as John F. Kennedy in the acclaimed 1993 miniseries, “J.F.K: Reckless Youth.”

“He was quite a kid,” said Lynda Bell of Buckfield, describing the nearly hyperactive teen she remembers. “He was at times irritating,” she added with a chuckle.

Dempsey often seemed to get along better with adults than with his peers, as Bell remembers it.

“Where he really crossed up with the girls around here is he wanted to join their cheerleading troupe.”

Bell’s daughter was a member of the outraged pack of girls. “They blackballed him,” she said. “They all said if he’s going to be on, we’re quitting.'”

But her daughter, Kelly Day, has since had second thoughts.

“She said that he was the first boy that ever kissed her and she slapped him, and she doesn’t know why now.”

Denise Reehl, a Gardiner resident and of New England New Vaudeville Revue fame, is another who looks back fondly on Dempsey’s early days. She met him when he joined a drama club she started in Buckfield.

“He was very eager,” she said, and a fast learner with lots of energy.

Reehl can’t help but keep an eye on his career, which has humble roots in juggling.

“It’s a hoot to watch him,” she said. “When he was a kid, he was really tiny – in fact, I think he was the subject of (some harassment). Now I look at him and say, oh my God, he’s grown into a man.'”

Does he deserve a Golden Globe Award?

Certainly, Reehl said. There was no question in her mind about him making it so far.

The 63rd Golden Globe Awards will be held on Jan. 16 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, Calif. Dempsey is nominated for the title of Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama.