RIP Corporal LeBeau

[stumppy]

Last surviving cast member of Hogans Heroes. Loved watching it when I was a kid.

Longtime French actor, singer and Holocaust survivor Robert Clary, known for his lead role in "Hogan's Heroes," has died at age 96.

Clary died Wednesday morning in his Los Angeles home, his granddaughter, Kim Wright, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Clary -- named Robert Max Widerman at birth -- was born March 1, 1926, in France and forced into internment in a Nazi concentration camp as a child. At age 27, he moved to United States to pursue his career.

Clary is most notable for his role as Corporal Louis LeBeau on the World War II-centered sitcom "Hogan's Heroes." Before his death, Clary was the last living cast member from the series' original principal cast.

In 1949, he appeared on "The Ed Wynn Show" and performed a French language comedy skit while still learning English. He later took his role in "Hogan's Heroes" in 1965. He also appeared in several film roles, including "Remembrance of Love," "Days of Our Lives" and "The Young and the Restless."

In 1965, he married "It Takes Two" actress Natalie Cantor. They were married for 32 years until her death in 1997.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/new...c0864a05b82f39

[IowaHawkeyeChief]

RIP Frenchy

[Stryker]

Man childhood memories! R.I.P. Frenchy

[MarkDavis'Haircut]

Doesn't get much better than Hogan's Heroes.

Every actor nailed their role.

"What is this man doing here???!!!"

[Easy 6]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I've been catching a few episodes lately because it's on some retro TV station. It's actually a pretty good show that stands the test of time. And yeah, it's kind of silly, but you have to make a comedy about a Nazi POW camp silly or it won't work.

Yep, Hogan and co are still going strong on Antenna TV

[Chiefs4TheWin]

Excellent Show. RIP

[stumppy]

Originally Posted by RedinTexas

Most people aren't aware, but all of the Nazis in Hogan's Heroes were played by Jewish men.

https://www.laughingwolf.net/2022/07...hogans-heroes/

I remember hearing about that at some point years ago although I never knew a couple of them had lost their families and spent time in concentration camps, Burkhalter and LeBeau.

https://religionnews.com/2022/11/17/...-robert-clary/

.....
Colonel Wilhelm Klink, the commandant of the stalag. His chief characteristics: vanity, insecurity, paranoia, and basically inept, in constant fear of being sent to the Russian front. He was played by Werner Klemperer, a veteran German entertainer. He was born into a family that was part of German-Jewish cultural aristocracy. His father was the renowned conductor Otto Klemperer, who had converted to Catholicism, but later returned to Judaism. Werner’s first cousin was the famous diarist, Victor Klemperer, who chronicled the final, tragic days of Germany Jewry.

Sergeant Hanz Schultz, the camp’s first sergeant. He was clumsy, cowardly, and easily bribed. His catchphrase: “I know notting.” He was played by John Banner, a Jewish refugee from Austro-Hungary. He lost many family members in the Holocaust. Nevertheless, he was often type cast as a Nazi. He played Nazi official Rudolph Hoss in the 1961 film “Operation Eichmann,” in which Werner Klemperer played Eichmann.

General Albert Hans Burkhalter, Klink’s superior officer. He was played by Leon Askin, nee Aschkenazy — a Viennese Jew whose parents perished in Treblinka.

Finally, Corporal LeBeau, played by Robert Clary. Clary was born in France, the youngest of fourteen children — ten of whom perished in the Holocaust. At the age of sixteen, he was deported to the concentration camp at Ottmuth, and then to Buchenwald, from where he was liberated in 1945. His other family members died in Auschwitz. He told his life story in his autobiography, “From the Holocaust to Hogan’s Heroes: The Autobiography of Robert Clary.”...........