I’m sorry to hear that. I guess LeBeau will be making apple strudel for Schultz in heaven.
Robert Clary outlasted them all. He’s the last cast member of Hogan’s Heroes as far as I know.
He apparently had a full and fulfilling life, in spite of how it started, in Concentration Camps.
I cannot imagine going through it, but Robert could.
Strong of character, willing to be happy.
RIP Is he the last of the main Hogan’s Heroes cast or is anyone still alive?
He must not have been one of them.
RIP, monsieur.
Oh wow I remember him. Believe it or not he is/was only 5 years older than William Shatner. I saw an interesting interview of Shatner the other day. He said he’s 91 and he knows he will die soon but he doesn’t feel like he will, that he feels no different from when he was younger. It made me wonder how long would people live if they didn’t know how old they were?
I just turned 60 two weeks ago and I don’t feel any different from 30. I wish I did, I would probably be more responsible about my health which I am reckless as F about. I still smoke and drink and eat crap food.
Viva, LeBeau!
Can you imagine trying to pitch the show’s premise to network bots today?
Ninety-six is a great run. One very interesting life. From Auschwitz to a situation comedy. God Bless Him and may he Rest in Peace.
From Wikipedia........
Born in 1926 in Paris, France, Clary was the youngest of 14 children, 10 of whom would die in the Holocaust.[1] At the age of twelve, he began a career singing professionally on a French radio station and also studied art in Paris.[2] In 1942, because he was Jewish, he was deported to the Nazi concentration camp at Ottmuth, in Upper Silesia (now Otmęt, Poland). He was tattooed with the identification “A5714” on his left forearm. He was later sent to Buchenwald concentration camp.
At Buchenwald, he sang to an audience of SS soldiers every other Sunday, accompanied by an accordionist. He said, “Singing, entertaining, and being in kind of good health at my age, that’s why I survived. I was very immature and young and not really fully realizing what situation I was involved with ... I don’t know if I would have survived if I really knew that.”[3]
Writing about his experience, Clary said,
We were not even human beings. When we got to Buchenwald, the SS shoved us into a shower room to spend the night. I had heard the rumours about the dummy shower heads that were gas jets. I thought, ‘This is it.’ But no, it was just a place to sleep. The first eight days there, the Germans kept us without a crumb to eat. We were hanging on to life by pure guts, sleeping on top of each other, every morning waking up to find a new corpse next to you. ... The whole experience was a complete nightmare — the way they treated us, what we had to do to survive. We were less than animals. Sometimes I dream about those days. I wake up in a sweat terrified for fear I’m about to be sent away to a concentration camp, but I don’t hold a grudge because that’s a great waste of time. Yes, there’s something dark in the human soul. For the most part, human beings are not very nice. That’s why when you find those who are, you cherish them.[4]
Clary was liberated from Buchenwald on April 11, 1945. Twelve other members of his immediate family were sent to Auschwitz concentration camp; Clary was the only survivor.[5] When he returned to Paris after World War II, he learned that three of his 13 siblings had not been taken away and had survived the Nazi occupation of France.[3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Clary
Thanks for posting this.
Here’s a little(no pun intended) LeBeau. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnslrB8QT-g
Friday night TV was The Wild Wild West followed by Hogan’s Heroes.
I always thought if they did a final episode it should be about klink and Schultz knowing what the prisoners were doing all along but they were part of the resistance.
The whole cast was made up of jews that wanted to make the nazis look as bad as possible. Sad.
That rich French food did him well, wow 96! RIP. Loved that show.
IIRC, Klink was a German Jew and Schultz was an Austrian Jew. The producer was also Jewish. I’m paraphrasing, but when asked how he could play a Nazi Klink said something like I’m an actor, I accept roles (I don’t turn them down). I’m sure it helped that he didn’t play a very evil Nazi and Hogan outfoxed him at every turn.
I had no idea he had survived three years in the death camps. He’s due much more respect than I ever knew to give him.
Loved the show and him. He refused to trash Bob Crane. Rest in peace, LeBeau.