Film Hillerman made his film debut in
They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970) in an uncredited role as a reporter. Director
Peter Bogdanovich, with whom Hillerman had previously worked during his stage career, cast Hillerman in his films
The Last Picture Show; ''
What's Up, Doc?; and Paper Moon.
Hillerman worked steadily thereafter in motion pictures and television through the 1970s, including notable supporting roles in the 1974 films Chinatown and Blazing Saddles. He appeared in season 2, episode 4 of Wonder Woman as a Nazi spy. In 1978, Hillerman also appeared in an episode of Little House on the Prairie'' called "Harriet's Happenings." In 1979, Hillerman performed on a
television pilot for an American version of the British
situation comedy Are You Being Served?,
Beanes of Boston, as Mr. John Peacock, an American translation of the original British character,
Captain Peacock. He is best remembered for his role as former
British Army Sergeant Major Jonathan Higgins in
Magnum, P.I. (1980–1988). He learned to speak in the character's educated middle/upper class English accent, known as
Received Pronunciation or the King's/Queen's English, by listening to a recording of
Laurence Olivier reciting
Hamlet. He considered Higgins his favorite role, In 1982, Hillerman starred in the television pilot of
Tales of the Gold Monkey, as a German villain named Fritz the Monocle. He hosted the 1984
David Hemmings-directed puzzle video
Money Hunt: The Mystery of the Missing Link. In 1990, Hillerman returned to television as Lloyd Hogan in the sixth and final season of the sitcom
The Hogan Family. That same year, he portrayed
Dr. Watson to
Edward Woodward's
Sherlock Holmes in
Hands of a Murderer. == Later years and death ==