Hank Hill

Hank Hill
File:HankHill.jpg Hank Hill.
First appearance	Pilot episode January 12, 1997
Created by	Mike Judge
Portrayed by	Mike Judge
In-universe information
Gender	Male/female(according to license)
Title	"I sell Propane and Propane accessories"
Occupation	Asst. Manager at Strickland Propane, Mega lo Mart Propane salesman, back to Asst. Manager at 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) Rita (cousin)
Spouse	Peggy Hill (wife)
Children	Bobby Hill (son)

For Hank's half-brother, also named Hank, see G. H. Hill

Hank Rutherford Hill is a fictional character in the animated series King of the Hill. Hank works at the fictional Strickland Propane in Arlen, Texas selling propane and propane accessories. Hank's voice is provided by series creator Mike Judge. The Economist briefly mentioned him as one of the wisest people on television.

Description

According to the episode "Yankee Hankie," Hank proudly believed he was born in Texas to Tillie Mae Hill and Cotton Lyndal Hill but finds (to his disgust) 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. Hank, who previously thought he was an only child, finds out he has a Japanese half brother named Junichiro in the episode "Returning Japanese". This is due to an affair his father had while fighting in World War II. Also, in the episode "Hank Gets Dusted," Hank is shown to be the cousin of ZZ Top bassist and vocalist Dusty Hill.

Hank played football in high school. He was a running back and led the league in rushing. 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" for over-ebullience, thus explaining his unwillingness to show much emotion. After graduating from high school, he went on to work as a salesman at Jeans West, a clothing retailer, until Buck Strickland found that he was a good salesman and hired him at Strickland Propane, where Buck taught him everything about propane. According to Bill, he also had a brief stint as a tractor salesman.

Hank sells propane and propane accessories as an assistant manager at Strickland Propane. He was promoted to manager when Buck's wife/ex-wife (Miss Liz) took over Strickland Propane. Hank was also promoted to manager by Buck Strickland at the Strickland Propane family picnic. He was then demoted after blurting out "I love you" to Mr. Strickland. Unlike Strickland's business enemy, M. F. Thatherton (and Strickland himself), Hank believes that selling propane through honesty and hard work is what life is all about. Hank idolizes Buck (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 also does not hold a grudge against his boss for trying to frame him for the murder of co-worker Debbie (it was later found out she accidentally killed herself). Hill is known for his supreme open, and often naive, honesty, but when it comes to Strickland, loyalty wins over honesty. In one episode he went as far as covering up Strickland's illegal price fixing agreement with the other local propane providers to get him out of going to jail again.

He only has one child, Bobby Hill, but would have had more if not for his "narrow urethra". Early in the series, he often says of Bobby, "That boy ain't right." However, Hank clearly 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 comedy and theatre. Hank is relieved when Kahn tells him that he caught Bobby and Connie taking their clothes off, since up until that time, it appeared that Bobby was not as socially graced around other girls. In the first episode of the series, Hank deals with an unruly social worker who calls 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.

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.

According to his medical record, Hank is 6'2" and weighs in at 220 lbs.

Hank drives a red pickup truck, likely a Ford Super Duty, which replaced his original truck, a red Ford Ranger (after it was destroyed by a train; the new truck does have the old truck's gear shift knob). Hank was upset when he found out a car dealer he had bought his vehicles from had ripped him off on every deal Hank ever made with him; this led him to put fliers denouncing the salesman as a liar on the dealership's cars, and nearly got him arrested when radical teenagers blew up several of those same cars. The teenagers escaped punishment, and the dealer refused to press charges against Hank, knowing that Hank would fight the case for as long as possible, all the while denouncing his company. 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, but can be pushed too far on occasions (usually by Dale). Hank's idol is Outlaw Country singer Willie Nelson, and he also plays the Acoustic guitar.

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, although Hank occasionally enjoys a cigar in festive moments.

Personality

Hank is often regarded as the wise, hard-working, traditional American. Everybody looks to Hank when they have any seemingly useless, or dull work that needs to be done. When his dog Ladybird attacked a black repairman (voiced by Bernie Mac) working on their heating system, he was accused of being racist, but it was later proven that she is only prejudiced towards repairmen in general, as she knows Hank is usually the one to make household repairs. 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 father Cotton Hill. However, if sufficiently provoked, Hank is just as willing to fight as his father, often proclaiming, "I'm gonna kick your ass!", often resulting in him chasing the person down and literally kicking them in their ass.

He is for the most part a staunch conservative (he once said dreamily that he missed voting for Ronald Reagan.) He was initially a huge fan of George W. Bush, but had second thoughts about voting for him because of his weak handshake, and when asked if he would vote for "the other guy," presumable Al Gore, he said "I don't know." He is a Republican, but admires old-school Democrats (such as John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson). His dog Ladybird is named after Lady Bird Johnson, the wife of Lyndon B. 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 (not only because Bartlet is a fictitious character but also because Bartlet is considered to be a typical liberal president on the show), who proceeded to do his report on Ronald Reagan. Hank also has a great amount of respect for former Democratic Governor Ann Richards.

He considers his wife his best friend, and feels that physically punishing children is wrong; he is usually verbally strict, but not directly abusive.

Political parties aside, he is very conservative and old-fashioned, 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. Hank is portrayed as having traditional family values, and he is shown to be uncomfortable with hiring a woman to work at Strickland because she was believed to be too attractive, 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. His old-fashioned ways extend to his technological abilities as well, it is shown that he dosen't even know how to turn a computer on, let alone actually use it. He does however, eventually get a cell phone.

He does, however, share a few progressive values. One of them is his fondness for organic food in the episode "Raise the Steaks". He even goes as far as to defend the hippies, something he seemed somewhat ashamed to do but nevertheless found himself agreeing with them when it comes to natural food. He has also been shown to have fairly moderate views on issues like gay rights and other religions. Hank is an environmentalist (though he distances himself from the movement at large), once lamenting air pollution in Houston, and he opposes the building of McMansions. Despite his apparent naivety to general things, he has been shown to be very clever in various scenarios. These include tricking a crooked lawyer attempting to sue Strickland into making it appear as though he is the one that injured his plaintiff; forcing a veterinarian who was shaking him down on costly and unnecessary treatments for a soldier's cat to approve the cat's file, or Hank would tell the vet's customers about a completely inefficient imaging machine the vet couldn't afford; and getting the see-no-evil parents of a youngster who was bullying him to exert discipline by having Bobby behave exactly like their son towards them.

He has shown to have chiroptophobia. When surprised, he reacts with a "BWAAAAAH!". This was used in the title of the episode "Mutual of Omabwah", and "Bwah my nose."

Hank can be rather gullible, as for the past twenty-five years, he was buying cars at sticker price from Tom Hammond's used cars. He has also been tricked because of his relative ignorance concerning drugs or subcultures. Hence he once mistakenly bought vials of crack believing they were fishing bait and in a time of stress took a hit of marijuana because he thought it was a cigarette. He also introduced a woman, who later turned out to be a prostitute, to several business associates. This led her former pimp, Alabaster Jones (voiced by Snoop Dogg), to believe he was her new pimp.

In "Be True to Your Fool," a flashback reveals that shortly after Hank graduated from high school with his three best friends, Dale Gribble, Bill Dauterive, and Jeff Boomhauer, Bill enlisted in the United States Army. Hank admired Bill greatly for this decision, to the point that he stumbled drunkenly into a tattoo parlor and asked to have Bill's name inked onto his chest. However, Boomhauer persuaded the proprietor to put the tattoo in a less conspicuous place, the back of Hank's head; Hank had completely forgotten that night, but was reminded of it while undergoing treatment for head lice in the present. He had the name removed out of disgust, but eventually had a jailhouse tattoo of it put on to show Bill that the two were still friends.

In nearly every episode, Hank and his friends Dale, Bill and Boomhauer, will stand about in the alley behind Hank's house, drinking Alamo beer and discussing the events of the day. When consensus is reached, or they simply run out of things to talk about, they will give short words of agreement, such as "yup" or "mm-hmm."

See also

• Peggy Hill
• Bobby Hill
• Propane
• Arlen, Texas

External links

• Official site for King of the Hill
• Hank Hill bio site
• King of the Hill at IMDb