Jonathan Quayle Higgins III is a fictional character, but John Hillerman, the actor who him on the
1980s TV series Magnum, P.I., has
been a true-life friend of mine and my family since the ‘50s. John has played many roles on stage, in
the movies and on TV, but it's for his eight seasons on Magnum he's probably best known and for which he won five Emmys.
Although his character is English, John was born in
Dennison, Texas. He perfected his accent in onstage productions in Ohio before taking the accent to Hollywood. One of the
stories John told and retold during the Magnum years was about a letter he had
received from a woman in London who wanted to know where in the UK had he been
born.
The snobbish character Higgins began life
as equally snobbish Simon Brimmer on TV productions of Ellery Queen. John has said that playing a snob
comes easy to him. I can assure you after knowing him all these years that he’s
right – snobbery, as those of us who love him can attest, does indeed come quite naturally to him.A sweet snobbery, that is.
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