Hank Rutherford Hill is an American fictional character and the protagonist of the Fox animated television series King of the Hill. He lives in the fictional town of Arlen, Texas, with his family. In the series' original run, Hank worked as the assistant manager at Strickland Propane as a salesman of propane and propane accessories. In the revival, he is retired after taking up a new job in Saudi Arabia. In the subsequent season, Hank returns to Strickland Propane as the manager and majority owner. He likes to drink beer, typically Alamo brand, in the alley behind his house with his friends. He is voiced by series creator Mike Judge. The Economist described Hank Hill as one of the wisest people on television, and in 1997 Texas Monthly included him on its annual list of the most influential Texans.
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Development
When Mike Judge submitted the pilot script and drawings for King of the Hill to the Fox network, network executives advised him that Hank Hill should be younger than 49 years old, as Judge had described the character. Judge received a phone message from a network executive who told him that Hank's age should be 32, the same age as the network's average viewer. Judge later said, "I got all angry, and then I was like, 'Well, wait. It's just a drawing.' So I just went back with the same drawing and said, 'Okay, he's 34.'"
Hank has been compared to Tom Anderson, the "disapproving old man" who is a neighbor of the title characters on Judge's earlier series Beavis and Butt-Head. Television columnist Frank Wooten of The Post and Courier has written, "Hank still looks and sounds like a young Mr. Anderson (beleaguered, baffled Korean War veteran of 'Beavis and Butt-head'). But he's more in touch with contemporary reality (sort of) -- and funnier." Throughout the show's run, Hank's character's personality appears to more primarily be built around the image of the all American, authoritarian family man. In a 2006 interview, Judge said, "Originally I was going to have Hank be his [Mr. Anderson's] son. I was kind of thinking we'd tie it into "Beavis and Butt-Head" as a sort of spinoff or something, but Fox said no." Greg Daniels, another creator of the program, has said that Hank Hill is "based on a lot of neighbors I've had… He's upset about how America is changing, and he doesn't know what to do about it."