John Hillerman: Actor who played ‘Higgins’ in Eighties TV series ‘Magnum PI’

A veteran of theatre in the US, he gained fans in Britain playing the archetypal English butler of the American imagination

Hillerman (right) with ‘Magnum’ star Tom Selleck: ‘One of the best parts in all television,’ the Texas-born actor said of his defining role (Alamy)

Texas-born John Hillerman, who has died aged 84, is best remembered playing a plummy English estate manager in the popular 1980s TV series Magnum PI. As Jonathan Quayle Higgins III he was the stuffy foil to Tom Selleck’s freewheeling private detective.

​Hillerman was a theatre stalwart who had proved himself a versatile Hollywood character actor before achieving household name as Higgins – in Britain as well as the US. The rather posh accent, which he learned from listening to recordings of Laurence Olivier reciting Hamlet, convinced many in Britain that he was from these shores.

Hillerman recalled his pain at disappointing British fans who wrote to him, explaining that he was just a “Hick” from Texas. Higgins, a former army officer, was the doberman pinscher-loving major-domo of the sprawling Hawaii property Magnum used as a home base; the ferocious dogs he kept were merely his “good lads”. The estate, Robin’s Nest, was owned by an unseen author of mystery novels, Robin Masters.

John Hillerman at the The Golden Globe Awards (Rex Features)

Magnum, a retired US Navy officer, had use of the guesthouse and, of course, got to drive the owner’s Ferrari. He often had to haggle with the officious Higgins for permission to use the expensive amenities – their bickering formed a playful core of the show. Hillerman won an Emmy in 1987 for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series.

“I could do Higgins happily for 10 years without getting bored,” he told America’s People magazine in 1983. “I like to play people who are bright and who can turn a good insulting line.”

Hillerman was born was born in the North Texas city of Denison to a petrol station owner. He developed an early enthusiasm for the arts, particularly opera, and studied journalism at the University of Texas before joining the US air force.

He spent much of his free time in theatre troupes around Fort Worth where he was based. After his discharge he went to the American Theatre Wing in New York, the organisation behind Tony awards which also trains actors.

The actor made his Broadway debut in a 1959 revival of Eugene O’Neill’s The Great God Brown. Dozens of supporting roles followed, on- and off-Broadway before his screen debut in 1970.

​Hillerman became friends with Peter Bogdanovich early in his theatrical career when the two happened to be performing as spear carriers in a production of Othello in New York’s Central Park. The film director cast him in a small role in The Last Picture Show (1971) based on Larry McMurtry’s drama of a fading Texas town. Hillerman became a member of the director’s stock company, playing a hotel manager in What’s Up, Doc? in 1972, a lawyer in 1973’s Paper Moon and a chauffeur in At Long Last Love in 1975.

Other appearances included the ice-cream parlour owner Howard Johnson in Mel Brooks’ Western farce Blazing Saddles in 1974; and a corrupt public official in Roman Polanski’s detective masterpiece Chinatown in 1974. Over the next several years, Hillerman played radio detective Simon Brimmer on the TV series Ellery Queen, was Betty White’s estranged husband on The Betty White Show and was Conners on the sitcom One Day at a Time.

John Hillerman pictured with Betty White the 1985 Emmy Awards in Pasadena, California (AP)

He retired in 1999. His survivors include a sister.

“In my humble opinion, Higgins is one of the best parts in all television,” Hillerman once said. “I’m not the kind of actor making lots of money in television while saying, ‘Oh, I wish I were back in the theatre.’ They would have to offer me the whole island of Manhattan to get me to do a play in New York now.”

John Hillerman, born December 1932, died 9 November 2017

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