Hollywood isn’t the most popular town these days. With allegations of sexual assault and harassment coming out every day now, it seems, after producer the Harvey Weinstein allegations of the same got the ball rolling about six weeks ago, we’ve seen an avalanche of accusations coming down the mountain, to include those against Kevin Spacey, who stands accused of inappropriate behavior of a sexual nature against an actor who was only 14 years old at the time.
However, once upon a time, there were some people of true character in Hollywood, and today, we just lost one of them in 84 year old John Hillerman.
Hillerman, pictured above on the right, photo courtesy of Alibaba, starred in the hit show Magnum P.I. alongside Tom Selleck, with whom he’s pictured. Hillerman played the role of the property manager of Selleck’s character’s home that he used for his home base in the show.
Hillerman also had key roles in other sitcoms, including “One Day At A Time” and “Ellery Queen.” He retired from acting approximately 17 years ago and returned to his native Texas where he lived a very humble, low key life, preferring to stay out of the public’s eye.
Chris Tritico, Hillerman’s nephew, says that Hillerman was the most read person he ever knew. He said you could not play Scrabble with him. He also said the reason his uncle never returned to acting was because he was only interested in serious roles, like the one he played in Magnum P.I. It appears as if cameos, for which he no doubt had many offers, just weren’t his
Hillerman left behind several nephews and nieces and he’ll be missed by his many fans.