John Hillerman

John Benedict Hillerman (December 20, 1932 – November 9, 2017) was an American actor best known for his starring role as Jonathan Quayle Higgins III on the television series Magnum, P.I. that aired from 1980 to 1988. For his role as Higgins, Hillerman earned five Golden Globe nominations, winning in 1981, and four Emmy nominations, winning in 1987. He retired from acting in 1999.

Early life and career

Hillerman was born in Denison, Texas, the son of Christopher Benedict Hillerman, a gas station owner, and Lenora Joan (née Medlinger).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was the middle child with two sisters.<ref name="NYT">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His father was the grandson of immigrants from Germany and Holland,<ref name="Sheff">Template:Cite magazine</ref>Template:Failed verification and his mother the daughter of immigrants from Austria and Germany.<ref name="Sheff" />Template:Failed verification He was a first cousin once removed of author Tony Hillerman. Hillerman developed an interest in opera at the age of ten, and traveled to Dallas to watch Metropolitan Opera productions.<ref name=oc /> He attended St. Xavier's Academy,<ref name=oc /> and after graduation, he attended the University of Texas at Austin for three years, majoring in journalism.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Hillerman served four years in the United States Air Force (1953–1957), working in maintenance in a B-36 wing of the Strategic Air Command, and achieving the rank of Staff Sergeant.<ref name=oc /><ref name="Variety">Template:Cite news</ref> He became interested in acting after working with a theatrical group in Fort Worth during his service: "I was bored with barracks life. I got into [acting] to meet people in town. A light went on."<ref name=oc /> After his 1957 discharge, he moved to New York City to study at the American Theatre Wing, and performed in professional theater for the next twelve years, in productions such as Henry IV, Part 2 and The Great God Brown.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Despite over 100 stage roles,<ref name=oc /> Hillerman was unable to make a living as a stage actor, and he moved to Hollywood in 1969.<ref name="oc" /><ref name="Variety" />

Career

Film

Hillerman made his film debut in They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970) in an uncredited role as a reporter.<ref name="TMZ">Template:Cite news</ref> Director Peter Bogdanovich, with whom Hillerman had previously worked during his stage career, cast Hillerman in his films The Last Picture Show; What's Up, Doc?; and Paper Moon.<ref name="oc">Template:Cite news</ref> Hillerman worked steadily thereafter in motion pictures and television through the 1970s, including notable supporting roles in the 1974 films Chinatown and Blazing Saddles.<ref name="NYT" /> After being cast in Magnum, P.I., he appeared in four further films between 1980 and 1996, with his final film performance coming in A Very Brady Sequel.

Television

Hillerman and Betty White in a 1977 publicity photo for The Betty White Show

In 1975, Hillerman was a co-star in Ellery Queen as Simon Brimmer, a radio detective who hosted a radio show and tried to outsmart the title character (Jim Hutton).Template:R From 1976 to 1980, he had a recurring role as Mr. Conners on the sitcom One Day at a Time, and he co-starred as Betty White's estranged husband on The Betty White Show (1977–1978).<ref name="etvs">Template:Cite book</ref> He appeared in season 2, episode 4 of Wonder Woman as a Nazi spy. In 1978, Hillerman also appeared in an episode of Little House on the Prairie called "Harriet's Happenings." In 1979, Hillerman performed on a television pilot for an American version of the British situation comedy Are You Being Served?, Beanes of Boston, as Mr. John Peacock, an American translation of the original British character, Captain Peacock.

He is best remembered for his role as former British Army Sergeant Major Jonathan Higgins in Magnum, P.I. (1980–1988).Template:R He learned to speak in the character's educated middle/upper class English accent, known as Received Pronunciation or the King's/Queen's English, by listening to a recording of Laurence Olivier reciting Hamlet.<ref name="wp">Template:Cite news</ref><ref group=note>An article about Hillerman in Orange Coast magazine in June 1988 said, "... the accent supplanted a thick drawl. Born and raised in Texas, he [Hillerman] trained away the drawl in a year of intensive work in New York's American Theatre Wing."</ref> He considered Higgins his favorite role,<ref name="latimes" /> and described the character in a 1988 interview as "think[ing] he's the only sane character [in the show], and everyone else is stark raving mad."<ref name="oc" /> Hillerman recalled in 1984 that he was up for a role in the 1980 Buck Henry/Bob Newhart film First Family and "wanted the part very badly," and had he gotten the role, he would have turned down the role of Higgins.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1982, Hillerman starred in the television pilot of Tales of the Gold Monkey, as a German villain named Fritz the Monocle.<ref name="HRO">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He hosted the 1984 David Hemmings-directed puzzle video Money Hunt: The Mystery of the Missing Link.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In 1990, Hillerman returned to television as Lloyd Hogan in the sixth and final season of the sitcom The Hogan Family.Template:R That same year, he portrayed Dr. Watson to Edward Woodward's Sherlock Holmes in Hands of a Murderer.<ref name="HRO" />

In 1993, he appeared in Berlin Break for one season.<ref name="wp" /> He played the role of Mac MacKenzie, a former spy and currently the proprietor of Mac's, a bar in West Berlin considered to be neutral territory during the Cold War.<ref name="etvs" /> Mac teamed up with two jobless spies as investigators: Valentin Renko (Nicholas Clay), an ex-KGB agent, and Willy Richter (Kai Wulff), an ex-BND (West German secret service) operative.<ref name="Variety" /> The show reunited him with Jeff MacKay, who portrayed "Mac" MacReynolds in Magnum P.I..<ref name="Fox">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Later years and death

After Hillerman retired from acting in 1999, he returned to his home state of Texas.<ref name="latimes">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On November 9, 2017, he died of cardiovascular disease at his Houston home, at the age of 84.<ref name="NYT"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Filmography

Sources:<ref name="Variety" /><ref name="HRO" /><ref name="Fox" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1970	They Call Me Mister Tibbs!	Reporter	Uncredited
1971	Lawman	Totts
1971	The Last Picture Show	Teacher
1971	Honky
1972	What's Up, Doc?	Hotel Manager Kaltenborn
1972	The Carey Treatment	Jenkins
1972	Skyjacked	Walter Brandt
1972	The Outside Man	Department Store Manager
1973	The Thief Who Came to Dinner	Edmund Lasker
1973	High Plains Drifter	Bootmaker
1973	Paper Moon	Deputy Hardin / Jess Hardin
1973	The Naked Ape	Psychiatrist
1974	Blazing Saddles	Howard Johnson
1974	The Nickel Ride	Carl
1974	Chinatown	Russ Yelburton
1975	At Long Last Love	Rodney James
1975	The Day of the Locust	Ned Grote
1975	Lucky Lady	McTeague
1977	Audrey Rose	Scott Velie
1979	Sunburn	Webb
1981	History of the World, Part I	Rich Man	(The French Revolution)
1984	Up the Creek	Dean Burch
1989	Gummibärchen küßt man nicht	Padre
1996	A Very Brady Sequel	Dr. Whitehead	(final film role)

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1971	Sweet, Sweet Rachel	Medical Examiner	Television film
1972	The Sixth Sense	Adrian Weems	Episode: "Once Upon a Chilling"
1972	Mannix	Larry Lawton	Episode: "Light and Shadow"
1972	The Great Man's Whiskers	Major Underwood	Television film
1973	Mannix	J. H. Morell	Episode: "Silent Target"
1974	Maude	Drunk	Episode: "The Commuter Station"
1974	Kojak	Mark Gallant	Episode: "The Only Way Out"
1974	The Law	Thomas Rachel	Television film
1975	Mannix	Norman Thompson	Episode: "Search for a Dead Man"
1975	The Bob Crane Show	Dean Harrington	Episode: "The Son of the Campus Capers"
1975–1976	Ellery Queen	Simon Brimmer	8 episodes
1976	Serpico	Raoul Christie	Episode: "Rapid Fire"
1976	Hawaii Five-O	Donald Blair	Episode: "Man on Fire"
1976	Wonder Woman	Conrad Steigler	Episode: "Wonder Woman vs Gargantua"
1976–1980	One Day at a Time	Mr. Connors	6 episodes
1977	Delvecchio	Dr. Augustus Hamilton	Episode: "Licensed to Kill"
1977–1978	The Betty White Show	John Elliott	14 episodes
1978	Hawaii Five-O	Nelson Bodine	Episode: "A Stranger in His Grave"
1978	Little House on the Prairie	Sterling Murdock	Episode: "Harriet's Happening"
1979	The Love Boat	Ed Hartnett	2 episodes
1979	Beane's of Boston	John Peacock	Pilot
1980	Soap	Minister	Episode: "3.12"
1980	Young Maverick	McBurney	Episode: "Makin' Tracks"
1980	Hart to Hart	Victor Sutter	Episode: "Cruise At Your Own Risk"
1980	Tenspeed and Brown Shoe	William Whitney	Episode: "Diamonds Aren't Forever"
1980	Lou Grant	Sturbridge	Episode: "Pack"
1980–1988	Magnum, P.I.	Jonathan Higgins	158 episodes Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film (1983, 1985, 1987–1988) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (1984–1986)
1982	Tales of the Gold Monkey	Monocle	2 episodes
1982	Simon & Simon	Jonathan Higgins	Episode: "Emeralds Are Not a Girl's Best Friend"
1983	The Love Boat	Manfred	Episode: "The Last Case"
1986	Murder, She Wrote	Jonathan Higgins	Episode: "Magnum on Ice"
1987	Assault and Matrimony	Neighbor, Cyril	Television film
1989	Around the World in 80 Days	Sir Francis Commarty	3 episodes
1990	Hands of a Murderer	Dr. John Watson	Television film
1990–1991	The Hogan Family	Lloyd Hogan	13 episodes
1992	Murder, She Wrote	Edgar Greenstreet	Episode: "Murder on Madison Avenue"

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Nominated work	Result
Primetime Emmy Awards
1984	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Magnum, P.I.	Template:Nom<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1985			Template:Nom<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1986			Template:Nom<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1987			Template:Won<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Golden Globe Awards
1982	Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film	Magnum, P.I.	Template:Won<ref name="ggawards">Template:Cite news</ref>
1983			Template:Nom<ref name="ggawards" />
1985			Template:Nom<ref name="ggawards" />
1987			Template:Nom<ref name="ggawards" />
1988			Template:Nom<ref name="ggawards" />

External links

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• John Hillerman — Aveleyman