Character actor John Hillerman has passed away. No more Higgy baby 
Zeus and Apollo are now mourning…
Glad you started a thread about his passing, this versatile character actor deserves one. I’ll always remember him best for his role in Magnum, of course. Another familiar face passes from the scene. Ave atque vale, Mr Hillerman, may the earth lie lightly on your grave.
… And as Nietzsche said, “Out of chaos comes order.”
RIP. 
I really liked him as the hotel manager in Peter Bogdanovich’s comedy What’s Up, Doc. His deadpan delivery really sold the one scene he was in.
“Mr. Banister, I have a message for you from the staff of the hotel.”
“Yes?”
“Goodbye.”
I also remember him as Simon Brimmer, the condescending radio detective who was always upstaged at the end of the old Ellery Queen TV series in the '70s.
Shirts throughout Hollywood will be in mourning today; they have lost their stuffing.
I knew him from Ellery Queen primarily, so when Magnum came out, I said, hey, it’s Simon Brimmer!
There goes my dream of a Magnum reuinion where-are-they-now film.
Plus, Higgy-baby is NOT Robin Masters! Don’t let them fool you!
Indeed. The notion that he is, is just… dumb. I can’t really think of a better word for a plot twist that makes no sense, answers no questions, and just creates conflicts with earlier information.
Pretty sure Zeus and Apollo were waiting for him at the gates
To me he will always be Howard Johnson.
Oh, blow it out your ass! 
Higgins: Remember when I told you I was Robin Masters?
Magnum: Yes?
Higgins: I lied.
I looked at his listing in IMDB - he was in a lot I’d seen before Ellery Queen (Kojak, Mannix, Hawaii 5-0) but he never registered. He’d been around a while. Even The Love Boat (twice!)!
He really did a good job distinguishing all the different half-brothers of JQ Higgins (plus a single scene as his own father). Glad we never got to see his half-sister Soo Ling.
Or we’d be saying, “So long, Soo Ling!”
He was a very versatile actor, I think, having played numerous character parts over the years, each quite different from the other. I loved that he got his chance to shine as Higgins on Magnum, P.I. Too bad he’s gone.
I just want the Ferrari Magnum got to drive. As a kid I thought that was the coolest car in the world.
A great straight man. I once used the term majordomo in conversation. Greeted with blank stares. You know like Higgins. Not a butler or caretaker, but the guy in charge.
I drove one, of the same vintage. My head stuck out the top, just like Selleck’s. It was, and remains, the coolest car I have ever driven.
Majordomo. Not “the butler cat”. 
I like that Hillerman did a great slow burn and convincing anger. In real life. I’m more like Magnum. I get whiny sounding when I’m exasperated.
Oh. My. GOD!
Lest we forget, the original voice of Robin Masters was Orson Welles.
“Higgy Baby, It ain’t over till it’s over!”
It’s over now.
Donald Bellisario had written a script for Quantum Leap in which Sam Beckett leapt into Thomas Magnum, which never got filmed, mostly because *Magnum, P. I. * had ended its run and the actors had moved on to other projects. But it would have been interesting to see Sam, as Magnum, interacting with everyone else in character as Higgins, Rick, T. C., etc.
I had a forlorn hope that Bellisario would do a movie about Higgins and his half-siblings.
That is indeed one hella impressive IMDb listing. Chinatown and Blazing Saddles in the same year!
It just goes on and on. A lot of TV, mostly comedies but some quite serious stuff.
Was even on an episode of The Bob Crane Show!
Forget it Bart, it’s Rock Ridge.
I’ve often wanted to have two miniature pinschers, and name them Zeus and Apollo.