The John Hillerman Thread

[K Hale]

I like how Hillerman is still in character even for this segment .... Rest in Peace .....


youtu.be/3A1WFqnvi4k

I wish he had done more voice work. I would listen to him read the phone book. He did a documentary on the Bismarck that I listened to just to hear him tell me about it, not because I cared about the Bismarck...

I need to find that, that must be a great listen. (I've become addicted to Dan Carlin's Hardcore History series).

And you are right, that would have been a great path for him.

Here it is: https://youtu.be/HC3kDrltYjw

[ConchRepublican]

I wish he had done more voice work. I would listen to him read the phone book. He did a documentary on the Bismarck that I listened to just to hear him tell me about it, not because I cared about the Bismarck...

I need to find that, that must be a great listen. (I've become addicted to Dan Carlin's Hardcore History series).

And you are right, that would have been a great path for him.

Here it is: https://youtu.be/HC3kDrltYjw

Thank you!

[K Hale]

I dreamed last night that I was grocery shopping in the same store as John Hillerman. He was checking out ahead of me. Something he was trying to buy checked out wrong and he had to move aside and the checker told me to come ahead. So now he was behind me and I was trying to hurry so he wouldn't have to wait. At one point, the checker handed me something like a piece of cardboard to give to him and I casually glanced over my shoulder and handed it to him as if I didn't recognize who he was.

On his way out the door, he turned back and addressed the people in the store with some funny story. The details have faded but I remember him mentioning the Santa Ana winds (a Southern California weather phenomenon; I grew up there) so apparently this dream was taking place in California. His story involved the names of several people, I don't recall who, but I think they were either famous old time actors or people whose names I did not recognize (or both).

I then left through another door and was waylaid by my cousin who was working there. When I got away from her, I got out the door and found a tall cement platform I could stand on to look around and he was loading groceries into his car. Then I woke up.

[terryfromkerry]

Hey K. Hale,
What a pleasant experience ! If the dream occurs again please have a peek in his shopping trolly for the brand of tea & biscuits he bought. We can assume he picked some up during his visit.

[K Hale]

Hey K. Hale,
What a pleasant experience ! If the dream occurs again please have a peek in his shopping trolly for the brand of tea & biscuits he bought. We can assume he picked some up during his visit.

Haha! Well this was definitely Hillerman and not Higgins. I am not sure he was the tea and biscuits type! More like cocktail supplies and caviar. Though I admit I had no impression at all of what he was buying. My dream did not provide those details.

[terryfromkerry]

I overlooked of course that he's a cultivated Texan first ! Still hoping for a re-occurrence of that dream though. Your sharing of something this whimsical and descriptively colourful in detail is interesting, amusing and welcome.

[ENSHealy]

Speaking of dreams, I had one the other night. I had bought a Ferrari. Strangely, it was yellow, not red, but it was a 308. However, after driving it around proud as a peacock for a day or two, I look closer and realized it was naught but a John Deere Gator with 308 body panels bolted on to it.

Extraordinary.

[terryfromkerry]

I needed a bit of help with the visuals there ...........
https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/v ... ction=view

Now I see it !

[rgholmes]

FYI
John Hillerman’s appearance on”Murder She Wrote” is showing on the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries channel Wednesday, April 22 at 12 AM Eastern.

Gary

[Pahonu]

John Hillerman in a 1972 Mannix episode called Light and Shadow. He played a Hollywood entertainment columnist with lots of dirt. Nice cigarette holder and he actually uses the word “majordomo” in the scene!

https://ibb.co/3CcpFFJ

[K Hale]

John Hillerman in a 1972 Mannix episode called Light and Shadow. He played a Hollywood entertainment columnist with lots of dirt. Nice cigarette holder and he actually uses the word “majordomo” in the scene!

https://ibb.co/3CcpFFJ

He played so many shady SOBs in the ‘70s. He had two other roles on Mannix, playing two different hit men.

The cig holder is his own, by the way. It appears in other roles, including Higgins.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

John Hillerman in a 1972 Mannix episode called Light and Shadow. He played a Hollywood entertainment columnist with lots of dirt. Nice cigarette holder and he actually uses the word “majordomo” in the scene!

https://ibb.co/3CcpFFJ

He played so many shady SOBs in the ‘70s. He had two other roles on Mannix, playing two different hit men.
The cig holder is his own, by the way. It appears in other roles, including Higgins.

KHale,
That's interesting about the cig holder and on reflection it does make sense it was his, because as you say he used it
in so many roles. My mental image of him when I hear his name is of his role in Ellery Queen, because that is when
I first noticed him. In my opinion he stole every scene he was in with the two stars of the series.
Ellery Queen only ran for one year but it's well worth catching, it's obvious Murder She Wrote swiped a lot from it
and isn't nearly as good.
Does anyone know if Hillerman ever sat down for an extensive interview by the Museum of Television Broadcasting
or a similar outfit concerning his time on Magnum? Major characters on classic TV series almost always are
interviewed for posterity by those types of organisations.

[K Hale]

John Hillerman in a 1972 Mannix episode called Light and Shadow. He played a Hollywood entertainment columnist with lots of dirt. Nice cigarette holder and he actually uses the word “majordomo” in the scene!

https://ibb.co/3CcpFFJ

He played so many shady SOBs in the ‘70s. He had two other roles on Mannix, playing two different hit men.
The cig holder is his own, by the way. It appears in other roles, including Higgins.

KHale,
That's interesting about the cig holder and on reflection it does make sense it was his, because as you say he used it
in so many roles. My mental image of him when I hear his name is of his role in Ellery Queen, because that is when
I first noticed him. In my opinion he stole every scene he was in with the two stars of the series.
Ellery Queen only ran for one year but it's well worth catching, it's obvious Murder She Wrote swiped a lot from it
and isn't nearly as good.
Does anyone know if Hillerman ever sat down for an extensive interview by the Museum of Television Broadcasting
or a similar outfit concerning his time on Magnum? Major characters on classic TV series almost always are
interviewed for posterity by those types of organisations.

I have Ellery Queen on DVD. JH stole every scene he was in. Simon Brimmer is my 2nd favorite role of his, after Higgins. There is no Simon Brimmer character in the Ellery Queen stories, and I have seen one source that said the role was written specifically for Hillerman.

I’ve only ever seen four interviews with Hillerman, and the outfit you mentioned was not one of them.

[Pahonu]

John Hillerman in a 1972 Mannix episode called Light and Shadow. He played a Hollywood entertainment columnist with lots of dirt. Nice cigarette holder and he actually uses the word “majordomo” in the scene!

https://ibb.co/3CcpFFJ

He played so many shady SOBs in the ‘70s. He had two other roles on Mannix, playing two different hit men.

The cig holder is his own, by the way. It appears in other roles, including Higgins.

Thanks for the information. That’s cool to know. I saw him on Kojak too, another baddie!

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

KHale wrote:
I have Ellery Queen on DVD. JH stole every scene he was in. Simon Brimmer is my 2nd favorite role of his, after Higgins.
There is no Simon Brimmer character in the Ellery Queen stories, and I have seen one source that said the role was written specifically for Hillerman.
I’ve only ever seen four interviews with Hillerman, and the outfit you mentioned was not one of them.

KHale,
You have inspired me to go out and buy The Ellery Queen series. I recall it had an amazing roster of guest stars. I read all the Ellery Queen
books years ago and Jim Hutton was definitely the best onscreen version.
Anyone out there who likes Higgins will get a big kick out of his Simon Brimmer, he is a delight in the role as KHale will agree,
though he isn't in every episode.
KHale, it's odd there is only four interviews with him. I know from researching the Route 66 stars and others that wherever a celeb winds up in
his/her final years, usually you can find interviews with them in the local media/town newspaper.
Stars often do that out of "self preservation" as they are living there so they might as well get the local media on their side by being nice and
by creating a good impression with the locals who they will wind up rubbing shoulders with at the supermarket etc.
When the TV series ED filmed for 4 years in my hometown of Westfield, NJ, the stars more than once sat for interviews with the High School
TV station, school paper and the town paper.
After awhile the locals hardly paid attention when they were filming, I walked right up to the 2 stars filming a scene 20 feet away, and watched
from behind the camera crews. No glamour, filming on location is a long drawn out bore, taking an hour to do a 2 minute conversation over and over.
Though star Julie Bowden shined, she has charisma squared. Wasn't much of a commute for her, she lives a few miles away in Plainfield.