Posted on 11/16/2022 3:20:54 PM PST by Borges
Loved the show and him. He refused to trash Bob Crane. Rest in peace, LeBeau.
I read somewhere that Werner Klemperer, who played Colonel Klink, agreed to do the show on the condition that there would not be an episode in which the Germans came out on top.
That show was such a part of my childhood. Loved every minute of it. Then, Hogan got killed, and it eventually got out why/what he had been up to, and that kind of ruined it for me.
But good for LeBeau, may he RIP - he (and his buddies there) brought me, and hopefully my Dad (who spent his time in France, but thankfully courtesy of Gen. Patton, and not the other guys) a lot of laughs back in the early 70’s.
They tattooed arms because it is a lot harder to change a tattoo than it is to change a identification card or remove a patch of yellow on your clothing.
And with your clothes off, you can still be identified. Very important to them.
I view it in much the same light as I view the people today pushing a digital ID/digital passport.
I believe they are cut from the same cloth.
Leon Askin, who played General Burkhalter was also Jewish.
Wow, that is an absolutely incredible and astonishing bio of Mr. Clary. What an accomplished man and to start from such humble beginnings and make it through Auschwitz alive.
Thanks for posting this!
Wow, thanks for that info. Glad Clary made it to such an old age. May he Rest in Peace.
Werner Klemperer was Jewish. I read he played Klink to be an object of ridicule because he felt that it was appropriate. Theres a marvelous clip of him and John Banner (Sgt Shultz) also Jewish iirc, singing Silent Night.
I remember him referring to the Krauts as “filthy Boche” a few times, when talking to Schultz. I knee John Banner had reservations about playing a German soldier....didn’t know the Clary was a Holocaust survivor. RIP
May he rest in peace. What an incredible life.
Klink was played by Werner Klemperer, a WW II vet born into a Jewish family.
> Hogan outfoxed him at every turn. <
That was part of the deal. Werner Klemperer said he would accept the Col. Klink role only if the Nazis would lose in every episode.
I read that the actor who played Colonel Klink (he was a German Jew) did not want to make Klink to be a sympathetic character. He didn’t want a character wearing a Nazi uniform to be portrayed as “good” in any way.
His father:
“Otto Nossan Klemperer was a German-born orchestral conductor and composer, described as “the last of the few really great conductors of his generation.”
Wow. Loved the retro re-runs of that show.
Here’s an interview Werner Klemperer did in 1992. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Gl_smVVkEI
My dad is going on 84 and the doc told him he’s 84 going on 50, couldn’t talk to him the rest of the day what with him staring in the mirror all day.
I had the same feelings. Trying to make nazi’s funny was a weird thing to me. I did not know the history of the cast. This man led a life few people could imagine. I had no idea his family was that large. And he was one of just a few to survive. He can rest easy with them all tonight. RIP
One strong Frenchman.
No strain whatsoever.
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