 |
This television-related article or section describes an aspect of the series in a primarily in-universe style. Please rewrite this article to explain the fiction more clearly and provide non-fictional perspective. |
| Hank Rutherford Hill | |
|---|---|
 Hank Hill & his family in The Simpsons "We drove 2,000 miles for this?" |
|
| First appearance | Pilot (episode 1.01) |
| Created by | Mike Judge |
| Portrayed by | Mike Judge |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Age | 42 |
| Date of birth | c. 1965 |
| Occupation | Assistant Manager of Strickland Propane |
| Family | Cotton Hill (deceased father) Tilly Hill (mother) Didi Hill (stepmother) Hank Hill (GH or "Good Hank") (half-brother) Junichiro (half-brother) Dusty Hill (cousin) |
| Spouse(s) | Peggy Hill (wife) |
| Children | Bobby Hill (son) |
Hank Rutherford Hill is a fictional character, the protagonist of the animated series King of the Hill. Hank, along with his family (wife Peggy, son Bobby, and niece Luanne), has a central role in most story lines. Hank's voice is provided by series co-creator Mike Judge.
Contents |
Description
Hank Rutherford Hill stands 6'2" (1.88 meters) in height and weighs 220 pounds (100 kg). Among King of the Hill characters, Hank bears one of the more noticeable resemblances to Tom Anderson, a character on Mike Judge's previous animated series, Beavis and Butt-head. The similarities in both voice and (to a slightly lesser extent) physical appearance between Hill and Anderson are especially noticeable when comparing early KOTH episodes to Beavis & Butthead's final episodes or movie. In early episodes. Hank also inherited much of Tom's serious, conservative personality; the differences, however, reflect the differences in tone between the two series. Unlike Tom, a senior citizen whose grumpiness was typically as absurd as his antagonists' stupidity, Hank's humorously no-nonsense attitude makes him a sympathetic voice of reason within the series. He also expresses a love of propane, similarly to Anderson's admiration of butane. According to the episode "Yankee Hankee" Hank believed he was born in the fictional Texas town Arlen to Tillie Mae Hill and Cotton Lyndal Hill but finds (to his horror) that he was actually born in New York City. His mother told him she gave birth to Hank in the ladies room at Yankee Stadium due to Cotton's failed attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro during a rare American visit. Hank was devastated to learn of his true birthplace after having thought of himself as a native Texan for over forty years but eventually came to accept his heritage when he realized that many of the Alamo heroes were not from Texas either. In the episode "Hank Gets Dusted," Hank is shown to be the cousin of ZZ Top bassist and vocalist Dusty Hill. Hank played American football in high school and held a record for most rushing yards (however in one episode, he was supposed to be a quarterback and in another his friend Bill was the star running back). He had a promising career until he snapped his ankle in the state championship game. This incident had a major effect on his character, as he regarded it as "punishment" over-ebulliance, thus explaining his current unwillingness to show emoton. After graduating from high school in the 1980s, he went on to work as a salesman at Jeans West, a clothing retailer. Hank proudly sells propane and propane accessories as an assistant manager at Strickland Propane. During one episode he was promoted to manager, but he was instantly demoted following a rare lapse in his emotional self-control, during which he told Buck Strickland he loved him. He was promoted to manager again in another episode when Buck's wife/ex-wife (Miss Liz) took over Strickland Propane. Unlike Strickland's nemesis, M. F. Thatherton, Hank believes that selling propane through honesty and hard work is what life is all about. He sometimes has trouble selling propane, because Thatherton often takes advantage of Hank's honesty. Hank idolizes Buck Strickland, the owner of Strickland Propane (who calls Hank "Ol' Top"), and keeps a somewhat idyllic picture of him even though he often sees his boss's many shortcomings (excessive gambling, alcoholism, womanizing, and general lewdness). He only has one child, Bobby Hill, but would have had more if not for his "narrow urethra". He is often frustrated by Bobby's innocently effeminate tendencies and disappointed that his son is hardly interested in sports. Early in the series, he often says of Bobby, "That boy ain't right." However, Hank absolutely loves his son, even though he's reluctant and uncomfortable to say it to his face. He even feigns an interest in Bobby's passions such as cooking and theater. Hank is relieved when Khan tells him that he caught Bobby and Connie taking their clothes off. In the first episode of the series, Hank deals with an unruly social worker when he puts Hank's parenting skills into question. But this is laid to rest when Hank speaks with Bobby when his son thinks he might be a disappointment, Hank immediately rebukes this and tells him how proud he is of him, as he is Bobby's father and by definition is proud of everything he does well. Hank suffers from a fictional genetic disorder called Diminished Gluteal Syndrome (DGS). His essentially non-existent buttocks cause stress on his spine and force him to wear an "orthogluteal" prosthesis while sitting down. Like most cartoon characters, Hank is always drawn wearing the same clothes: a white t-shirt, blue jeans, low-cut brown work boots, and black horn-rim glasses. When at work, he wears a short-sleeve blue work shirt with nametag. Occasionally, he has been drawn in a suit, usually when going to church (he is a practicing Methodist, and while he may not necessarily know what Methodism "is", he is a Devout Christian). His haircut is a flattop (or "Roger Staubach") which has remained consistent throughout the series, except for episodes that flashes back to his high school days, and another episode in which he is infected with head lice and shaves his head. When his barber goes insane and the Army charges him $900 for a haircut, he forgoes a haircut and has shaggier hair. Hank drove a red Ford Ranger pickup truck drawn to two different body styles (First generation (1983-1988) and Third generation (1993-1997)). In a later episode, the Ranger breaks down and is subsequently destroyed by a train. At the end of the episode, he buys a red Ford F-250 Super Duty 4x4. Both of Hank's trucks had/have a stick shift. He gives great love and affection to his lawn and his elderly dog Ladybird, while also clearly caring greatly about his family. Hank attained the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America. He is sometimes naive and close-minded, but he is generally tolerant of people different from him (intensely disliking being called a redneck or hillbilly) even when they show a complete lack of common sense or manners. Hank and Peggy both smoked cigarettes early in their relationship, but both gave up the habit when Peggy became pregnant with Bobby. Twelve years later, Hank started smoking again inadvertently after trying to kick Bobby off of the habit. Peggy soon followed, even though both were against cigarette smoking. All three managed to stop smoking cold turkey, with Luanne's help ("Keeping up with our Joneses").
Personality
Hank considers himself very handy and is often frustrated at the incompetencies of the hardware department employees of Mega Lo Mart. Everybody looks to Hank when they have any "handyman" work to be done. When his dog Ladybird attacked a black repairman working on their heating system, he was accused of being racist, but it was later proven that he is only prejudiced towards repairmen in general. Hank has briefly worked at Mega Lo Mart as a propane salesman trainee when he lost his job at Strickland Propane. Hank's reserved nature probably resulted from years of verbal abuse from his maniac father Cotton Hill. However, if sufficiently provoked, Hank is just as willing to fight as his father (a trait Bobby also shares). A true gentleman, Hank is horrified by the idea of him having sex with anyone other than his wife. He is for the most part a staunch conservative (he once said dreamily that he missed voting for Ronald Reagan), though he had some second thoughts about voting for George W. Bush in the 2000 U.S. Presidential election because of the candidate's weak handshake. Like many Texans, he is a Republican but admires old-school Southern Democrats (such as Lyndon Baines Johnson). His dog Ladybird is named after Lady Bird Johnson, the wife of Lyndon Baines Johnson. In one episode, Bobby chose to do a school report on his favorite president, Josiah Bartlet of the dramatic TV series The West Wing. When Hank discovered this, he scolded Bobby, who proceeded to do his report on Ronald Reagan. Hank does though have a great amount of respect for former Democratic Governor Ann Richards. He also considers his wife his best friend and feels physically punishing children is wrong, though he is usually strict verbally, but not directly abusive. Parties aside, he is very conservative and old-fashioned, and in some ways seems to be somewhat naive, naturally thinking everyone shares his sense of right and wrong and being largely ignorant of new trends and view points; several episodes involve him dealing with things like yoga, boy bands, etc. While traditional, he is mostly free of less savory attitudes of overt racism or sexism, although he exhibited subtle traces of the latter when he would not hire a woman to work at Strickland even though she was overly qualified; instead, he hired a man for shallowly expressing a fondness for the Dallas Cowboys and a blatantly fraudulent adoration for propane. The man was later revealed to be a completely unreliable drug addict. When either suddenly confronted with less conservative situations or suddenly realizing he has been naive about such a situation, he usually reacts by yelling "BWAH!", and with "lesser" issues, such as John Redcorn crying on his lap, panicking, finding a way out of the situation as quickly as possible, and/or pretending the event never happened. Despite his apparent naivety to general things, he has been shown to be very clever in various scenarios (such as tricking a crooked lawyer attempting to sue Strickland into making it appear as though he is the one that injured his plaintiff) Whenever Hank is faced with a situation he is not sure how to handle his first call is to Fred at AAA (they are on a first name basis) to find a solution. Hank enjoys standing in the alley behind his house drinking Alamo beer with lifelong friends Dale Gribble, Bill Dauterive, and Boomhauer. Hank is also a rabid Dallas Cowboys fan (and idolizes Cowboys coaching legend Tom Landry), though in one episode he does wear a Houston Texans hat (he tried to see the inaugural Cowboys-Texans game). When he watches baseball, he favors the Texas Rangers over the Houston Astros. In basketball, he prefers the Dallas Mavericks over the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs, and in college sports he prefers University of Texas over all of the universities in Texas but he doesn't show any interest for hockey, neither the Dallas Stars. Hank was once singing the theme of Green Acres while watering his lawn. A running gag throughout the series was that Hank shows a great dislike of California more so than even New York. Another running gag would be Hank saying "Damn it, Dale!"
