He is perhaps best remembered for his role as former British Army Sergeant Major Jonathan Higgins in "Magnum, P.I." (1980–1988), for which he learned to speak in the educated middle/upper class English accent known as Received Pronunciation, the King's or Queen's English by listening to a recording of Laurence Olivier reciting "Hamlet". He considered Higgins his favorite role, and described the character in a 1988 interview as "think[ing he's the only sane character the show, and everyone else is stark raving mad."