Posted on 03/18/2008 7:19:13 PM PDT by lunarbicep
Actor, director and producer Ivan Dixon, best known for his role as Kinchloe in the television series "Hogan's Heroes," has died in Charlotte at the age of 76.
Dixon died Sunday at a Charlotte hospital after suffering a hemorrhage, said Whitney Stauffer of Creative Artists Agency in Los Angeles.
Actor Sidney Poitier said the two men became friends after Dixon was his stunt double in the 1958 movie, "The Defiant Ones."
"As an actor, you had to be careful," Poitier said through Stauffer. "He was quite likely to walk off with the scene. And I was very careful."
Dixon began his acting career on Broadway in plays that included "The Cave Dwellers" and "A Raisin in the Sun." On film, he appeared in "Something of Value," "A Raisin in the Sun," "A Patch of Blue," "Nothing But a Man" and the cult favorite, "Car Wash."
But he was probably best known for the role of U.S. Staff Sgt. James Kinchloe on "Hogan's Heroes." Kinchloe, who's in charge of electronic communications, can mimic German officers on the radio or phone.
Dixon earned an Emmy nomination for his performance in the CBS Playhouse special, "The Final War of Olly Winter."
In addition to acting on television, he also directed hundreds of episodic shows, including "The Waltons," "The Rockford Files," "Magnum P.I." and "Heat of the Night."
Born April 6, 1931, in New York City, Dixon graduated in 1954 from North Carolina Central University in Durham.
Dixon's awards include four NAACP Image Awards, National Black Theatre Award and the Paul Robeson Pioneer Award from the Black American Cinema Society. He was a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Directors Guild of America, Screen Actors Guild of America, and the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.
Survivors include his wife of 53 years, Berlie Dixon; son, Alan Kimara Dixon and daughter, Doris Nomathande Dixon. Two sons, Ivan Nathaniel Dixon IV and N'Gai Christopher Dixon, are deceased.
At Dixon's request, Stauffer said no memorial is planned.
I sure did love Hogan’s Heroes as well...RIP, Mr. Dixon..
It took me a moment, too. The guy’s nametag says “Ping.”
What Bill said.
Corporal Ping is always good for a Ping.
His name is “Ping”. That ring a bell with you????
You are right about some of that, but I don’t remember Dixon saying or doing anything racist. He was successful in life.
Lebeau (Robert Clary) was also Jewish; actually was a Holocaust survivor. His expressed hatred of the Nazis on the show was not just acting.
That boy’s got a smile a mile wide God Bless him !
I wasn’t referring to Dixon. I was referring to all the black organizations listed that gave him awards.
I feel like the whole race sensitivity was thrust on me long after childhood. I didn’t care about one’s color at that time. Now I look at someone black and I’m on guard. Why? I’m not sure but it wasn’t like that growing up with them.
Because Jesse and Al and Obama’s pastor could not exploit your guilt if we all just get along. Don’t know how they sleep at night - Dr. King must be spinning in his grave.
After re-reading your post, it makes more sense. The black culture actually propagates division and quite nearly demands it.
To me this cements the mentality, "Wow, how unusual that a black can attain (fill in the blank)".
Why can't they treat them as just another individual that became successful?
what a career. those are some respectable credits; including a 53 year marriage. Wonder how he managed in America, as oppressive as it is to black people.
Hogan's Heroes was such a great show, I remember seeing "Stalag 17" years later. It became one of my favorite movies. It made me realize why I loved the TV show so much.
Shultz!
RIP.
And Arsenio Hall’s gums.
Rest In Peace, Kinch, you were always the cool one.
I was just a kid but I didn't see the humor in it then and I fail to see it now. What's so funny about Nazi's - even in a TV sitcom? I didn't and don't get it.
First Arthur C. Clarke and now Ivan Dixon. What a day. Another of the people who made up pop culture in my youth has died.
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