The John Hillerman Thread

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J.J. Walters
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The John Hillerman Thread

#1 Post by J.J. Walters »

aka Jonathan Quayle Higgins III ....
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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Danno
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#2 Post by Danno »

What is Higgy-Baby doing these days... does anyone know?
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J.J. Walters
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#3 Post by J.J. Walters »

He retired from acting and is living the good life on a ranch somewhere in Texas. His last acting credit was a brief appearance in 'A Very Brady Sequel' (1996). Coincidentally, in the same year, another actor named 'John Hillerman' died. For a while there, many people thought our John Hillerman (aka Higgie-Baby) had died!
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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rubber chicken
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#4 Post by rubber chicken »

Has anyone seen Hillerman in other movies? He's had so many roles, usually a few scenes a movie, or even just one line sometimes. A lot of his appearances were in now famous movies too. Here's a list of some that I've seen.

Chinatown
Paper Moon
The Last Picture Show
Blazing Saddles
High Plains Drifter
What's Up, Doc?
Hands of a Murderer - in this, he puts his English accent to use as Sherlock Holmes' Dr. Watson!
They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! - sequel to In the Heat of the Night, he has one line as a reporter. He's there and gone, funny for a Magnum P.I. fan to see.

It's always great seeing him in these movies, I can't help but smile.

Here's his filmography.

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#5 Post by Waltstasz »

I get a kick out of seeing him in movies too. I can only remember him in Blazing Saddles as Howard Johnson. :lol:
My darling, you look ravishing... A-heh, heh heh... A little champagne?

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#6 Post by J.J. Walters »

Hey there rubber chicken. Welcome to MM!

Yeah, it's great to see him in some of those early career movies, especially Chinatown, one of my favorite movies ever.

I still havn't seen Hands of a Murderer. I've been dying to see that for what feels like forever!

My favorite role of his (besides Higgins, of course) is Fritz the evil Nazi from the Tales of the Gold Monkey pilot. Complete with monocle and German accent. ;)
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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#7 Post by lutherhgillis »

James,

You didn't miss much by not seeing "hands of a murder". It was not well written. John does a good job, as we would expect.

John was the best actor by far on MPI. I'm glad they chose to develop the character. The show would not have been the same without him.

Luther H Gillis

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#8 Post by Jean-Claude Fornier »

Really amazing John Hillermann is from Texas (where there's a typical strong accent) and he's speaking with a so good english accent !
(easier role for him as Elmo Ziller, the Texan rodeo owner)

Higgins (a.k.a. Punky) is one of my favorite characters. He is honest, right, honourable, rigorous. Maybe difficult to live with him sometimes, but he's the type of guy you can count on.

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#9 Post by Mack »

I would have to agree with you Jean Claude about Hillerman's acting ability. On a different subject, has anyone ever had a pair of JQH's shoes. I remember wearing those in the 1970's as a kid, used to call them Wallabee"s.
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Doc Ibold
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#10 Post by Doc Ibold »

I have a feeling that "Murder By Night" is Mr. Hillerman'a actual voice.

I read on Yahoo or somewhere that through his dramatic training, he learned to ditch his "thick Southern drawl".

(Their words, not mine).

However, his knack for dialects/accents is, to paraphrase, extraordinary.

Rock on JH, Rock on!

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#11 Post by grapeshot »

You mean Clark's of England? They're the ones who make the Wallabee and the Desert Trek. I've never taken a close look at Higgin's shoes, but it would be entirely in character for him to wear either the Wallabee or the Desert Trek. (It seems to me that it's part of the British expatriate standard costume, along with the khaki pants and the pith helmet.)

You can buy their shoes all over the world, but the most convenient way to get them in the US is Zappos.com or Amazon.com.

In college I wore the women's version of the Wallabee shoe for over a year, until I held them too close to a campfire and the soles started to melt. They were my favorite pair of shoes ever. Sadly, they were less available back in those days, and then they went somewhat out of style. I see now that they've made a resurgence, and I've been thinking about buying another pair for myself.

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#12 Post by IslandHopper »

Mack wrote:On a different subject, has anyone ever had a pair of JQH's shoes. I remember wearing those in the 1970's as a kid, used to call them Wallabee"s.
I had these in elementary school ('70s).
The answer is obvious, old man. Logic is irrelevant. It's simply Tropical Madness. (J.Q. Higgins)

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#13 Post by FalcOS »

Are there any interviews with John Hillerman out there? I did an extensive google search but found nothing. I would like to get more information about him.
Does anyone know a place to get more information than his short biography on the web?

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#14 Post by Olivier »

I also didn' t find any recent informations about him on the web. I often see "retired in 2000". He' s 75 years old now.
Someone has a recent picture ?

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#15 Post by FalcOS »

His last movie was in 1996 and he retired in 2000, so what did
he do in between??

Here is a screen shot from his last movie in 1996 (A Very Brady Sequel):

Image

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