In 2017, rumors were spread that John Hillerman had passed away when a Facebook page attracted a crazy one million likes. The page post read, “At about 11 a.m., ET on Saturday (June 03, 2017), our beloved actor John Hillerman passed away.”
The rumor proved to be a fallacy as the deceased was actually a different John Hillerman. The “Magnum P.I.” star, known to play Higgins, is fortunately still alive and kicking today!
Tom Wasn’t Always Around
Back in the day, Tom Selleck was truly in demand in the industry. As such, his scheduling conflicts called for episodes that focused more on the secondary characters every once in a while.
While he was busy filming his hit films like "Runaway" and "High Road To China," the producers focused more on the characters of Higgins and T.C.
Luther Didn’t Work
There were a few episodes featuring a detective from St. Louis called Luther Gillis. These were actually an unsuccessful attempt to launch a new series based around him. The actor who portrayed the ill-fated character was Eugene Roche, who had a pretty successful career in his own right.
Roche will probably best remembered as the “Ajax Man” from the 1970 commercials. But he also featured in hit shows such as "Murder, She Wrote," "All In The Family," and "Kojak."
Emmys All-Around
As an absolute commercial and critical success, "Magnum P.I." and its lead actors received numerous nominations and awards including Tom Selleck’s Emmy for Best Actor.
Selleck’s Emmy for Best Performance, John Hillerman’s Emmy for Best Supporting Actor, and Hillerman’s Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor! Absolute stars!
Pipe Dreams
It may come as a surprise but Tom Selleck was actually dreaming to be an architect back in the day. The actor eventually was able to reach those dreams somehow as he played the role of Peter Mitchell on "Three Men And A Baby."
Peter was, obviously, an architect, and we’re pretty sure Tom enjoyed every bit of it!