Hank Hill

Hank Hill
Hank Hill (Left)
First appearance	Pilot (episode 1.01)
Created by	Mike Judge
Portrayed by	Mike Judge
In-universe information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Assistant Manager of Strickland Propane
Family	Cotton Hill (father) Tilly Hill (mother) Didi Hill (stepmother) Hank Hill (GH) (half-brother) Junichiro (half-brother) Dusty Hill (cousin)
Spouse	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.

Description

Among King of the Hill characters, Hank bears one of the more noticeable resemblances to 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 Hank and recurring Beavis and Butthead character Tom Anderson (also voiced by Judge) are especially noticeable in early episodes. Hank also inherited much of Tom's serious, conservative personality; the differences, however, refect 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.

According to the episode "Yankee Hankee" Hank believed he was born in the fictional Texas town Arlen in 1956 to Tillie Mae Hill and Cotton Lyndal Hill but 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 played 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. He went on to work at Jeans West, a company that actually existed in real life at one time.

Hank's character 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. 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. 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 dress 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 modified "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 which he buys a red Ford F-250 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, 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.

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. 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.

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 "AUGH!", 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)

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 Southern Methodist University (SMU) over all of the universities in Texas.

Trivia

• Hank graduated in 1974, if he was 18 when he graduated that means he was born sometime around 1956.
• Both Hank Hill and Homer Simpson were born in the same year.
• Hank is based on Mike Judge's father James Judge, a noted anthropologist.
• Hank stands 6'2"(1.88 meters) in height
• In the episode "Hank Gets Dusted," Hank is shown to be the cousin of ZZ Top bassist and vocalist Dusty Hill.
• Hank is a former smoker.
• Hank was once was singing the theme of Green Acres while cleaning up his lawn.