It is hard to believe that John Hillerman was only 48 years old when he started on Magnum and only 56 when it ended. I never realized that until recently. He looked so much older. I would have thought he was in his late 50s when he started. I am thinking that Higgins character was supposed to be in his late 50s, having had such a storied history.
shareHe was the same age as I am now when he started the show. He is suppose to be playing a character 10 years older than himself. He does look the age of Higgins. Hillerman was a heavy smoker and I've been told that can put years on you.
shareI agree that smoking ages a person. I also get the impression that Higgins is supposed to be "an older, distinguished gentleman" so his age range is a bit ambiguous and irrelevant.
shareNo, there are clues throughout the series. He was probably born shortly after WWI.
This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here.
Pretty sure there was one episode when he mentioned being in the British army in North Africa fighting Rommel. That would be 1943 at the latest. Say if he was 20 then that means being born in 1923 which would make him around late 50s when he first met Magnum. Higgins is roughly about 20 or so years older than Magnum, which would tie in with him being born early to mid 1920s.
Also, in the episode Deja Vu (set in England) Higgins mentioned it's been 40 years since he saw his father and that was when he was expelled from Sandhurst. Sandhurst is a British military academy for officers.
Also in the episode "Basket Case" Higgins talks about playing Basketball while fighting in North Africa.
shareLorne Greene was 44 when he started in Bonanza....I would have sworn he was 54!
shareJust like Richard Sanders, who played Les Nessman on WKRP. He was only 38 when the show started. He looked to be in his mid 50s. Gordon Jump was only 46 and looked to be almost 60.
shareThose are all hard to believe. Another one that comes to mind is Redd Foxx. When Harlem Knights came out, I thought he would have been dead by then.
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I'm just expressing my opinion.
You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas.
I agree with Redd Foxx. He was only in his late 50s during Sanford and Son, but you would have sworn he was in his 70s. Same with Abe Vigoda during Barney Miller. He was 53 when Barney Miller started, but I thought he was in his late 60s.
shareHiggin's backstory has him being born in 1920, so hw should have been 60.
shareHe didn't look any older than 48. He didn't have any deep lines/wrinkles in his face:
http://c8.alamy.com/comp/BP7GH2/john-hillerman-tom-selleck-larry-manetti-roger-e-mosley-magnum-pi-BP7GH2.jpg
Take a look at Clint Eastwood when he was 48:
http://s.libertaddigital.com/2015/05/29/eastwood-mono.jpg
He has way more lines/wrinkles in his face than Hillerman had even when he was 56 at the end of the series.
I think you're confusing the impression of age you got from the character he played, for Hillerman's actual appearance. It is the Vicki Lawrence effect. She was only 34 when "Mama's Family" started in 1983, and she first played the "Mama" role in 1974 when she was 25. She didn't look older than her age, and they didn't add any fake wrinkles or anything to her face, but her character gave the impression of advanced age.
The only actor on the show that looked significantly older than his actual age was Selleck. He was 35 when the show started and already had deep lines in his face. He could have easily passed for 45 or older. Mosley and Manetti both looked younger than Selleck, even though they are both older. Mosley is about 6 years older than Selleck, and Hillerman is about 6 years older than Mosley.
By the way, the idea that smoking prematurely ages you is a myth. I'm 41, have smoked since I was a teenager, and I was carded for buying beer recently. I get carded every time there's a new employee who hasn't carded me already. My father on the other hand, doesn't drink or smoke; never has, and at 41 years old he never would have been carded. He had mostly gray hair and plenty of lines in his face. I take after my maternal grandfather. When I was a kid of about 5 or 6 years old I felt kind of gypped because he didn't look like I thought a grandfather should look, i.e., even though he was about 60 at the time, he didn't look any older than my father, who was about 40.
Genetics is by far the most important factor for aging. Things like smoking and drinking are excuses people use for why they look older than they actually are, conveniently ignoring the countless examples which contradict their "theory".
I don't dance, tell jokes or wear my pants too tight, but I do know about a thousand songs.
I thought that was one of the major plot holes of the series. Higgins was once mentioned as being a sergeant major in WWII. I've never been in the British army but, no ... way .... in .... hell ... would a western army put someone in their twenties, much less early twenties, in the position of a sergeant major. Western armies were standing armies for much of the 20th century and that means many of advanced age (Lifers) to fill such positions. The Higgins character had to have been at least in his 30s to be a sergeant major, even during a major war. So, add another forty years plus or minus a few and that would put Higgins around the age of 70. When the series began. I still enjoyed the series, though.
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