The impeccably urbane Englishman Jonathan Quayle Higgins III , he fairly jumped at the chance to portray Selleck's genteel sidekick Higgins in "Magnum" which was to become his personal favourite and career-defining role.
Attended the University of Texas at Austin.
Reports of the death of Mr. Hillerman were confused with the death of another John Hillerman. This Mr. Hillerman is alive and well.
Has appeared as the character "Jonathan Higgins" in three separate television shows: "Magnum, P.I." , "Simon & Simon" and "Murder, She Wrote" .
He is a native Texan, thus his British accent in "Magnum, P.I." is assumed.
He developed his British accent for "Magnum, P.I." by watching and listening to the performances of Laurence Olivier.
Once received a fan letter from a British Lord that read, "You are a credit to the Empire.".
While serving in the U.S. Air Force at Carswell AFB, TX, tried out for a local play and discovered he loved acting.
Parents are Christopher Benedict and Lenora JoAnn (Medinger) Hillerman.
Has two sisters.
Second cousin of Tony Hillerman.
Retired in Texas.
In his mid-30s, Hillerman said "hasta luego" to his Texan origins to further his fervent theatrical ambitions; he headed Eastward, ultimately establishing himself as the predominant male thespian affiliated with Washington D.C..s prestigious "O" Street Theater, where he interpreted numerous lead roles, season after season, in the spectacular repertoire of that popular community theater. Then, as the 1960s were coming to a close, Hillermans brilliant stage career came to an abrupt unexpected end. What happened? Well, while present in the nations Capitol, Peter Bogdanovich decided to go see a stage show being performed at the famed "O" Street Theater. He was captivated by Hillermans performance. After the final curtain call, Bogdanovich went backstage to congratulate Hillerman on his performance skills, as well as to offer him a role in Bogdanovichs soon-to-be-produced film The Last Picture Show to be shot on location in Texas. Thus, Hillerman was going to be heading back home to Texas, leaving behind stage acting to start a new celebrity career performing on film and television. Subsequent to Hillermans departure, the "O" Street Theater abandoned its initial historic site on "O" Street to create a new performance venue across town, while still retaining its original well-known "O" Street name. Subsequent to that move, and capitalizing on the growing celebrity of its former top thespian, the "O" Street Theater began to add to its own schedule of locally-produced shows, occasional bookings of nationally-known touring performers, such as Anthony Zerbe and Roscoe Lee Browne performing their spirited two-man show "Behind the Broken Words", a collage of 20th century poetry and drama, drawn from works by Auden, Yeats, Richard Wright, Dylan Thomas, E. E. Cummings, Heany, Jeffers, Ferlinghetti, Jean Giraudoux, De Musset, Rostand and Derek Walcott. A stage show that was eventually transcribed onto film by David Stern. Behind the Broken Words.
