John Hillerman

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John Benedict Hillerman (born December 20, 1932 in Denison , Texas , † November 9, 2017 in Houston , Texas) was an American actor . He gained great fame through his impersonation of Jonathan Higgins in the crime series Magnum at the side of Tom Selleck .

life and career

The son of a German-American gas station owner gained acting experience in a theater group while he was serving with the US Air Force . His professional stage career began in the late 1950s. When he first worked in front of a film camera, he was almost 40 years old. In the 1970s, director Peter Bogdanovich cast him as a supporting actor in his films The Last Show , a drama in which he can be seen as a teacher, as a hotel manager in the comedy Is' was, Doc? and in a dual role as sheriff and smuggler in the comedic drama Paper Moon with Ryanand Tatum O'Neal . He was also seen as Yelburton in Roman Polański's mystery thriller Chinatown and as Citizen Howard Johnson in Mel Brooks ' western comedy The Wild Wild West .

Hillerman had his breakthrough in the medium of television in the role of the arrogant radio show detective Simon Brimmer in the series Ellery Queen (1975-1976), a modernized version of the book series of the same name . In 1978 he played the newspaper publisher Sterling Murdoch in the hit television series Our Little Farm in the episode Harriet's gossip . Hillerman was even more successful with the role of Briton Jonathan Higgins on the side of Tom Selleck in the 1980-1988 crime series Magnum . For this performance, he was awarded both a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy . Hillerman embodied the character of the vain but likeable Higgins as a guest star in three other series: Murder is her hobby , Simon & Simon and Back to the Past . After he played the Higgins' hobby in Murder in Hawaii , Hillerman played the character of Edgar Greenstreet six years later in the episode An Empire Tremors .

He was also successful in the lead role of the villain Christie Mack Teak in the comedic drama Adventurer on the Lucky Lady at the side of Gene Hackman , Burt Reynolds and Liza Minnelli . He also played Sir Francis Commarty, one of the leading roles in the first two parts of the three-part film adaptation of Jules Verne's adventure story Around the World in 80 Days at the side of Pierce Brosnan , Christopher Lee and Sir Peter Ustinov .

Since Hillerman retired from acting in the 1990s, he has lived and retired in his native Texas. In November 2017, he died there at the age of 84 in his house of cardiovascular disease.

His work in film and television includes more than 70 productions. He last appeared as an actor in 1996.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Commons : John Hillerman  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Higgins is dead “Magnum” actor John Hillerman has died ( memento of the original from November 10, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Stuttgarter Nachrichten , November 10, 2017. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stuttgarter-nachrichten.de
  2. ^ Sarah Booth Conroy: John Hillerman In: The Washington Post , June 1, 1986. Retrieved November 10, 2017 (English).
  3. ^ "Magnum" actor John Hillerman dies. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , 10 November 2017.
  4. ↑ Magnum PI actor John Hillerman dies . In: The Independent . November 10, 2017 ( independent.co.uk [accessed November 10, 2017]).
personal data
SURNAME Hillerman, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hillerman, John Benedict (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH December 20, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Denison , Texas , United States
DATE OF DEATH 9th November 2017
Place of death Houston , Texas , United States