Werner Klemperer

**Werner Klemperer** was a German-American actor, musician, entertainer and singer, best known for the role of Colonel Wilhelm Klink on the popular 60s action-comedy series "Hogan's Heroes,"

Klemperer was born in Cologne, Germany on March 22, 1920 to a musical family. His father was renowned conductor Otto Klemperer, and his mother was soprano Johanna Geisler. He had a younger sister named Lotte Klemperer. Though his father was Jewish by birth, he had converted to Catholicism, later reverting back to Judaism. His mother was Lutheran. His grandfather was part of the Jewish community in Prague, and his grandmother was a Sephardic Jew from Hamburg, Germany.

Immigrating to the United States in 1933, Klemperer and his family settled in Los Angeles, California, where Otto Klemperer became conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Confessing he had little musical aptitude, Klemperer began acting in high school and enrolled in acting courses at the Pasadena Playhouse before joining the United States Army and serving in World War II. While stationed in Hawaii, he joined the Army's Special Services unit, spending the next years touring the Pacific and entertaining the troops. After the war, he performed on Broadway in 1947 before moving to television.

His first TV role was in 1951 on the "Goodyear Television Playhouse," which was followed by appearances on "Studio 57," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "The General Electric Theater," "M Squad," "Maverick," "Perry Mason," "Studio One" and "Gunsmoke." He broadened his acting career by performing as an operatic baritone and a singer in Broadway musicals, once appearing as the Speaker in Arnold Schoenberg's "Gurre-Lieder" in a 1979 live performance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

His first film role was in "Flight to Hong Kong" in 1956, followed by roles in "Death of a Scoundrel," "The Wrong Man," "Istanbul," "Kiss Then For Me" with Cary Grant and Jayne Mansfield, "The High Cost of Living," "Houseboat," "Judgement At Nuremberg" and "Dark Intruder."

During the later Fifties and Sixties, he appeared in several TV shows, such as "One Step Beyond," "Have Gun – Will Travel," "Crusader," "The Alcoa Theater," "Rawhide," "Thriller," "77 Sunset Strip," "My Three Sons," "77 Sunset Strip" "My Three Sons," "The Man from U.N.C.L.E," "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" and more episodes of "Perry Mason" with Raymond Burr. However, he achieved popular notoriety as the haplessly inept Colonel Wilhelm Klink in the 1965 to 1972 TV series, "Hogan's Heroes." The comedy role was one of his favorite acting roles, establishing friendships with his co-stars, Bob Crane and John Banner. In interviews, he always mentioned that he accepted the part only on the condition that Klink would always be portrayed as a fool who never succeeded. Co-star Richard Dawson reported that Klemperer always supplied his own uniforms. He received six Emmy Award nominations for best supporting actor, winning successive awards in 1968 and 1969. During the run of the series, he twice won the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series at the Primetime Emmy Awards in 1968 and 1969.

During "Hogan's Heroes," Klemperer also appeared in the TV shows "Lost In Space," "Night Gallery," "Love American Style" and appeared as Klink on "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" and in a window cameo in the 1960s "Batman." His later films included "The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz" with Elke Sommar and several of his co-stars from "Hogan's Heroes," such as Bob Crane and John Banner. Through the Seventies, he appeared on the TV-shows "McMillan & Wife," "Tabitha" with Erin Murphy, "The Love Boat" and "Vega$" with Robert Urich. He also appeared on game shows, such as "Password." His films included "Wake Me When the War Is Over," "Return of the Beverly Hillbillies" and "Queen Esther" and "The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez" in the 90s.

After "Hogan's Heroes," most of Klemperer's work was on the stage. In 1987, he portrayed Herr Schultz in the Broadway revival of "Cabaret," which earned him a Best Featured Actor Tony Award nomination. As a member of the board of directors of the New York Chamber Symphony, he served as a narrator with many other American symphony orchestras including the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and took part in a few studio recordings. From 1979 to 1982, he appeared as Bassa Selim in 18 performances of Mozart's "Singspiel Die Entführung aus dem Serail" at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In 1981, he appeared to critical and audience raves as Prince Orlofsky in the Seattle Opera's production of "Die Fledermaus." In 1990, he narrated the children's story "Gerald McBoing Boing" for a CD of classical music for children.

At some point during his stage work, Klemperer lost the cherished Klink monocle he had worn on "Hogan's Heroes" and received a replacement from Pat Sajak on "The Pat Sajak Show" in 1991. Still fond of the role, he reprised the role to play the guardian angel of Homer Simpson taking the form of Colonel Wilhelm Klink in a 1993 episode of "The Simpsons." This would be his last acting role on TV, declining other offers to reprise the character, even from talk-show host Conan O'Brien.

In the later years of his life, Klemperer appeared in several episodes of the news/talk show "Politically Incorrect." He was an elected member of the council of Actors' Equity Association, and was a vice president of the union at the time of his death.

Sadly, Klemperer died of cancer at his home in New York City, New York on December 6, 2000, at the age of 80. He had been married three times, marrying his first wife, Susan Dempsay, in 1959, getting divorced in 1968. He met his second wife, actress Louise Troy, on the set of "Hogan's Heroes." They married in 1969 and divorced in 1975. His marriage to Kim Hamilton lasted from 1997 to her death in 2013. He was survived by his two children by his first wife, Mark Klemperer and Erika Klemperer. He was cremated with his ashes scattered at sea from an unknown location.