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Hillerman
(December 20. 1932 - November 9. 2017) |
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Height: 1 m 68 (5' 6") Weight: ca. 73 kg - 93 kg (160 lbs -205 lbs) Eyes: brown Hair: dark brown Marriage: none Siblings: Rose Mary Horton (Dec 22. 1926 - April 16. 2008) Jo Ann Tritico (Sep 17. 1935 - ) |
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John Benedict Hillerman was born on December 20, 1932, in
Denison, Texas, approximately 70 miles north of Dallas. He was the son of
Christopher Benedict Hillerman, a gas station owner, and Lenora Joan (née
Medlinger), who operated a beauty parlor. His father was the grandson of
German and Dutch immigrants, while his mother was the daughter of immigrants
from Austria and Germany. Hillerman was the middle child, with two sisters,
and a first cousin once removed of author Tony Hillerman. “Growing up in Denison was”, he said, “very simple. You didn't lie, cheat or steal, because they'd beat the living hell out of you if you did.” John’s family supported his unusual passion for opera, which was sparked when he heard a Metropolitan Opera radio broadcast at the age of 10. Despite this, Hillerman remained highly independent.“I started driving when I was 12 years old. Of course, you've got to understand that this was a little town there were only two cars on the road.” The Met visited Dallas one weekend a year. At 12, he took the train, but “By age 14 I used to go to Dallas myself, check into a hotel for the weekend, and go to the opera.” That didn’t mean he missed out entirely on a small-town childhood. “I used to fish for catfish in the Red River and all that Tom Sawyer-type stuff,” he once recalled. By 16, he graduated from St. Xavier's Academy, a small Catholic high school, and enrolled at the University of Texas for three years—“...without any idea of what I wanted to do. I'd won a couple of essay contests, so I put down journalism as my major. Bust mostly I played in college and had a wonderful time”. During the Korean War, Hillerman enlisted in the Air Force. While stationed in Fort Worth, he auditioned for a community theater play. “I had no desire to be an actor,” he explains. “I wanted to meet people.” With no previous experience, he landed a plum role in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. “I stepped onstage opening night and—it sounds corny—a light went on,” he recalled. “I realized that until that moment I had been bored stiff all my life. I decided, ‘This is what I want to do with my life.’ ” Hillerman served for four years in the United States Air Force (1953–1957), working in maintenance for a B-36 wing of the Strategic Air Command and attaining the rank of Staff Sergeant. After his discharge in 1957, Hillerman moved to New York, where, with the help of a coach, he worked to shed his Texas accent. He lived in a $31-a-month, fourth-floor walk-up slum on the Lower East Side, surviving on homemade turkey soup while honing his stage craft. He performed at the N.Y. Shakespeare Revival at the Lake Theatre in Central Park, in plays as Othello (July 4. 1958) and Twelfth Night (Aug 13. 1958). The former also featured Peter Bogdanovich as an actor, and the two became close friends. Hillerman was the kind of friend who would type scripts for the aspiring writer-director and answer a boozy, middle-of-the-night call from Bogdanovich, listening for hours to the details of a failed love affair. He spent the next 11 years in the Big Apple to study at the American Theatre Wing, and performed in professional theater, in productions such as The Great God Brown (Coronet Theatre, Oct 06. 1959 - Nov 01. 1959), Henry IV, Part 2 (Phoenix Theatre, Apr 18. 1960 - May 29. 1960) and Lady of the Camellias (Winter Garden Theatre, Mar 20. - 30. 1963). Despite performing in over 100 stage roles, Hillerman was unable to make a living as a stage actor. |
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  Above left: "Playhouse in the Park", the new Cincinnati repertory theater in Eden Park, at the hilltop, begins its long incubated season tomorrow night with the first production, Compulsion. Ken Rita, John Hillerman and Jack Collard are shown preparing the play. (Cincinnati Inquirer, October 10. 1960) Above right: David Hooks, Paddy Croft and John Hillerman have leading roles in Ugo Betti's The Burnt Flower Bed. It opens a 10-day engagement Wednesday at "The Playhouse in the Park". (1964) |
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 Above: (L-R) Jan Miner, John Hillerman, John Stride and Susan Strasberg in the stage production Lady of the Camellias (Winter Garden Theatre, Mar 20. - 30. 1963). |
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He combined his work in New York with acting jobs in
several repertory theater groups. Starting with Compulsion (Eden Park Theater, October 10. 1960) John Hillerman was a part of Cincinnati's "Playhouse in the Park" a repertory theater in Eden Park from 1960-1964. When the production debuted, regional theaters were still a new concept. In New York his off-Broadway performances include The Devil's Disciple (Master Theater, Jan 4. 1963, 9), The Blue Boy in Black (Masque Theatre, April 30. 1963 - May 19. 1963, 23) and Shakespeare's The White Rose and the Red (Stage 73, March 16. 1964, 31). The Equity Library Theater offered Franz Kafka's The Trial (The Master Theater, May 20. 1965) where John Hillerman played Joseph K. a bank manager who is arrested for an unspecified crime. He comes to assume the mantle of guilt without learning just what offense has been charged to him. John also performed with "The Harlequin Players" in Winston-Salem in Mary, Mary (July 27.-31. 1966). New York was followed by four years in Washington, D.C., establishing himself as the predominant male thespian affiliated with D.C..'s prestigious "O" Street Theater Club, where he interpreted numerous lead roles, season after season, in the spectacular repertoire of that popular community theater. Confirmed Washington Theater Club appearances are:
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  Above: Ralph Strait (L), Jane Singer and John Hillerman of the Washington Theater Club stage the opening scene in a mugging and purse theft. This mugging scene planned for a poster, and radio and television anti-crime commercials.(Geneva N.Y. Daily Times, 1968) |
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Then, as the 1960's were coming to a close, Hillerman's stage career came to an abrupt unexpected end. While present in the nation's
Capitol, his N.Y. friend Peter Bogdanovich decided to go see a stage show being performed at
the famed "O" Street Theater*. After the final curtain call, Bogdanovich went
backstage to congratulate Hillerman on his performance skills, as well as to
offer him a role in Bogdanovich's soon-to-be-produced film The Last
Picture Show (Columbia, October 22. 1971) to be shot on location in
Texas. Tired of being poor, living in cold-water flats, and going hungry, John decided at age 35 that he wanted to make money and appear on film. With just $700 in the bank and a desire for success, he drove his Ford to Hollywood in 1969 to take a small TV role. His film debut in They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (United Artists, July 8. 1970) was an uncredited role as a reporter. He fell $10,000 in debt during the two years before his next part. “I got depressed. When I get depressed, I sleep all day. I read books. So I slept and I got drunk. But I would not, for example, become a drugstore clerk. I didn't want to lose my conviction about myself. So I stayed in bed.” His break came when he finally did work with director Peter Bogdanovich in The Last Picture Show (Columbia, October 22. 1971) and later What's Up, Doc?(Warner Bros., March 10. 1972) and Paper Moon (Paramount, May 9. 1973). |
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  Above left: John in The Last Picture Show (Columbia, October 22. 1971). Above right: Ryan O'Neal and John Hillerman in Paper Moon (Paramount, May 9. 1973). |
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| Hillerman worked steadily thereafter in motion pictures and television through the 1970s, including notable supporting roles in the 1974 films Blazing Saddles (Warner Bros., February 7. 1974) and Chinatown (Paramount, June 20. 1974). | |
  Above left: John Hillerman and Jack Starrett in Blazing Saddles (Warner Bros., February 7. 1974) Above right: Hillerman as the Tree Inspector The Last Angry Man (ABC, April 16. 1974). |
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  Above left: Yet another Bogdanovich film with John Hillerman (holding the glass) and the unavoidable Cybill Shephard (L) At Long Last Love (20th Century Fox, March 1. 1975) Above right: Lucky Lady Year (20th Century Fox, Dec 25. 1975). |
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| In 1975, Hillerman was a co-star in Ellery Queen (NBC, 1975-76) as Simon Brimmer, a radio detective who hosted a radio show and tried to outsmart the title character (Jim Hutton) John imperiously nailed the role of radio detective Simon Brimmer, which was the creation of producers Levinson and Link, and very much became an integral part in success of the series. In all of his episodes Brimmer was the foil for Ellery. He was aloof, disdaining and in some respects evocative of the Ellery that we encounter in the early novels. Brimmer was the wise-guy who was always intent on out smarting each and everyone, and most particularly . . . Ellery. Every one of these episodes amounted to a mental duel between the two. And Brimmer always lost. |
  Above left: John Hillerman at the piano in Ellery Queen (NBC, 1975-76), with (L-R) Tom Reese (Sgt.Velie), David Wayne (Inspector Queen) and Jim Hutton (Ellery). Above right: Hillerman in as Brimmer the wise-guy who was always intent on out smarting each and everyone, and most particularly . . . Ellery. Every one of these episodes amounted to a mental duel between the two. And Brimmer always lost. |
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[Simon Brimmer finds Ellery Queen asleep in the control booth after his radio show finishes its broadcast]
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On the show, which was set in the
1940s, they used a lot of stars from that era - Ida Lupino, Howard
Duff,... that was intimidating, but he got over it. "I was only on eight shows," Hillerman said in a 1982 interview, "but people still remember the character. If the show had been a hit, I would have had my own series. But in Hollywood if a show's a failure people don't want any part of it." “Until I appeared in TV, the clerks in the market where I shop called me Mr. Hillerman. After I did the Ellery Queen series, they called me John without every knowing they'd made the transition.” |
  Above left: Publicity shot for The Betty White Show (1977–1978) with (L-R) John Hillerman, Betty White and Georgia Engel. Above right: John and Betty White in The Betty White Show. |
  Above: Hillerman performed on a television pilot for an American version of the British situation comedy Are You Being Served?, called Beane's of Boston (CBS, May 5. 1979), as Mr. John Peacock, an American translation of the original British character, Captain Peacock. |
| 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, acid-tongued ex-husband on The Betty White Show (1977–1978). 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." Hillerman performed on a television pilot for an American version of the British situation comedy Are You Being Served?, called Beane's of Boston (CBS, May 5. 1979), as Mr. John Peacock, an American translation of the original British character, Captain Peacock. |
  Above: Magnum, P.I. (1980 - 1988), right with Jillie Mack and Tom Selleck. |
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He is best remembered for his role as former British Army
Sergeant Major Jonathan Quayle Higgins III in Magnum, P.I. (1980–1988).
Higgins, the haughty major-domo of the beachfront property where Magnum
lived, was grouchy with a sarcastic wit, not unlike the detective Mr.
Hillerman had played on the mid-1970s show Ellery Queen. 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. He considered Higgins his favorite role. “In my humble opinion, Higgins is one of the best parts in all television,” he said, who harbored no regrets about abandoning his stage career. “I’m not the kind of actor making lots of money in television while saying, ‘Oh, I wish I were back in the the-a-ter,’ ” he drawled. “They would have to offer me the whole island of Manhattan to get me to do a play in New York now.” He 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." 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. The role won him a 1982 Golden Globe award and an Emmy in 1987 for best supporting actor. He played the same character (Jonathan Higgins) in two other series: Simon & Simon (1981) and Murder, She Wrote (1984). |
  Above left: Dobermans Apollo and Zeus (several dogs were used as actors) Above right: John as Jonathan Higgins with Angela Lansbury in Murder, She Wrote (1984). |
  Above: Hillerman's two-story penthouse apartment overlooking Waikiki has 18-foot windows with sweeping vistas from Pearl Harbor to Diamond Head. |
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“I'm capable of the massive
depressions. Month-long depressions. My depressions are tied to my career.
If my career is going good. I am a charming man. If it's going badly, I'm a
cranky, brooding man. My emotional security is tied to my financial
security. I like to live well. Money is freedom. I've been in both places,
poor and affluent. Affluent is much better. And it's so easy to become
accustomed to the good life.” The transplanted Texan lived in Hawaii when the CBS-TV series was in production (7 months a year), a chauffeured limousine at his beck and call 24 hours a day. Hillerman's two-story penthouse apartment overlooking Waikiki has 18-foot windows with sweeping vistas from Pearl Harbor to Diamond Head. When not in Hawaii, he lived in isolated splendor in an exquisitely furnished home above the San Fernando Valley in Reseda. By 1988 he moved to a new home at Lake Arrowhead. John was approached quite often from numerous production companies to do other TV series, including a spinoff of his Magnum character, Higgins. In 1982, Hillerman also starred in the two part television pilot of Tales of the Gold Monkey (ABC, Sep 2. 1982), as a German villain named Fritz the Monocle. He hosted the 1984 David Hemmings-directed puzzle video Money Hunt: The Mystery of the Missing Link. In 1990, Hillerman returned to television as Lloyd Hogan in the sixth and final season of the sitcom The Hogan Family (aka Valerie) (CBS Sep 15. 1990 - Jul 20. 1991). That same year, he portrayed Dr. Watson to Edward Woodward's Sherlock Holmes in TV's Hands of a Murderer (CBS/ITV, May 16. 1990). |
  Above left: In 1990 TV's Hands of A Murderer (CBS/ITV, May 16. 1990) had Edward Woodward and John Hillerman as Holmes and Watson. Above right: John Hillerman at the13th Cognac Crime Film Festival on April 9. 1995 in Cognac, France. |
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In 1993, he appeared in Berlin Break
(Columbia TriStar, 1993) for one season. He played the role
of John J. 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. The show reunited him with Jeff
MacKay, who portrayed "Mac" MacReynolds in Magnum P.I. 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 (Paramount, Aug 23. 1996). After Hillerman retired from acting in 1999, he returned to his home state of Texas. Content leaving Hollywood behind said his nephew. He lived in Spring Valley Village just outside Houston. Hillerman who had been in declining health died on November 9. 2017, of cardiovascular disease at his Houston home, at the age of 84. His body was donated to the University of Houston for medical research. |
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Notes: * After Hillerman's departure, the "O" Street Theater left its original historic location on "O" Street to establish a new performance venue across town while keeping its well-known "O" Street name. Following the move, and leveraging the rising fame of its former leading actor, the theater began supplementing its lineup of locally produced shows with occasional performances by nationally recognized touring artists. Programs, facts or dates in red still need confirmation. |
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The person above acted in the Ellery
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1975-1976.
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Page first published March 14. 2025 Version 1.0 - Last updated March 14. 2025 |
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