John Hillerman was born on December 20 1932 in Denison, Texas. He went to the University of Texas in Austin before serving in the Air Force for four years. It was while he was in the Air Force that he became interested in acting, auditioning for a production of Death of a Salesman while he was stationed in Fort Worth. While in the Air Force he appeared in around two dozen plays. After his service, Mr. Hillerman moved to New York City where he studied acting at the American Theatre Wing.
Mr. Hillerman made his debut on Broadway in a revival of The Great God Brown in 1959. In 1960 he appeared on Broadway in Henry IV, Part II. In 1963 on Broadway he appeared in The Lady of the Camellias. He ultimately worked on stage for literally years in both New York City and Washington D.C. After years of appearing on stage he found himself with only $700 in his bank account. He then moved to Los Angeles to pursue a more lucrative career in film and television.
John Hillerman made his film debut in 1970 in a bit part as a reporter in They Call Me Mister Tibbs!. The following year he had a slightly more substantial role in the Western Lawman (1971). Mr. Hillerman would play ice cream parlour operator Howard Johnson in Blazing Saddles (1974) and the crooked deputy chief of the water department in Chinatown (1974). In the Seventies he also appeared in such films as The Last Picture Show (1971), Honky (1971), What's Up, Doc? (1972), The Carey Treatment (1972), Skyjacked (1972), The Thief Who Came to Dinner (1973), High Plains Drifter (1973), Paper Moon (1973), The Day of the Locust (1975), Lucky Lady (1975), Audrey Rose (1977), and Sunburn (1979). While he appeared frequently in feature films, John Hillerman would have a more significant career in television. He played Simon Brimmer, the radio detective who matches wits with Ellery from time to time on the cult TV series Ellery Queen. He was also a regular on The Betty White Show, playing Betty's ex-husband and director of the fictional television show Undercover Woman, John Elliott. He played Mr. Connors, Ann Romano's boss, on One Day at a Time. He guest starred on such shows as The Sixth Sense, The F.B.I., Maude, Kojak, Mannix, Wonder Woman, Hawaii Five-O, Little House on the Prairie, Hart to Hart, and Lou Grant.
It was in 1982 that John Hillerman began playing the role of Jonathan Quayle Higgins III, VC on the hit series Magnum P.I. He played Sir Francis Commarty in the mini-series Around the World in 80 Days. He also had a regular role on The Hogan Family starting in its final season. He guest starred on the show Tales of the Gold Monkey; Simon & Simon (on which he played Higgins); The Love Boat, and Murder, She Wrote (on which he appeared as Higgins). He appeared in the films History of the World: Part I (1981), Up the Creek (1984), and Gummibärchen küßt man nich (1989).
In the Nineties John Hillerman appeared in the mini-series Berlin Break and the feature film A Very Brady Sequel (1996). Afterwards he retired from acting.
When it came to erudite, but arrogant characters, no one was better than John Hillerman. Many will remember him as Simon Brimmer on Ellery Queen, the self-important radio detective and friendly rival to Ellery. Many more might remember him as Higgins on Magnum P.I., who was essentially Magnum's pompous and elitist foil on the show. While John Hillerman's two best known characters were fairly similar (enough that it is often said that Jonathan Higgins was based on Simon Brimmer), he did play other sorts of roles. In Paper Moon Mr. Hillerman played two roles as far from Brimmer and Higgns as one can get, bootlegger Jess Hardin and his corrupt brother Deputy Hardin. Yelburton in Chinatown also had little in common with John Hllerman's best known characters. While John Hillerman was very good at playing upper class, erudite, and arrogant characters, he did equally well in a number of other roles as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment