Australian-American screenwriter, actor, director and producer, Higgins lived in cities such as San Francisco, Sydney and New York, where he joined the Actors Studio. He enlisted in the U.S. Army and was sent to Germany. After six months in Europe, she returned to Stanford University to study Creative Writing, acted in small theatrical productions, and wrote a play: Once Around the Quad. Visiting Expo 67 in Montreal, he decided to learn about cinema. He studied screenwriting at the UCLA College of Fine Arts, where he was a classmate of Paul Schrader. His doctoral thesis would serve as the basis for creating the screenplay for Harold and Maude (1971). Although he wanted to direct the film himself, Paramount opted to hire Hal Ashby. He also wrote other feature films such as Killing Lydia and The Distributor, but Harold and Maude had become a cult film and continued to be shown on billboards around the world. Years later he wrote a successful thriller, The Chicago Express (1976); directed his own screenplay, Dangerous Game (1978), which was hugely popular at the box office and launched his directing career; rewrote and directed How to Eliminate Your Boss (1980), also a great success; and the musical The Funniest House in Texas (1982). His last project was a television miniseries, What I Know About Me (1987), which he co-wrote and co-produced.