Hogan's Heroes Trivia Facts

Hogan's Heroes

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Robert Clary, who played LeBeau, was actually a survivor of the Holocaust.
Werner Klemperer, Howard Caine, Leon Askin, and John Banner (I), who play the chief Germans Klink, Hochstetter, Burkhalter and Schultz, were in fact all Jewish.
Lasted on the air for seven years, although American involvement in WWII actually lasted less than four years.
Werner Klemperer only agreed to play Col. Klink once he was assured (by the show's creator) that Klink would never succeed in his schemes.
The black and white pilot episode originally included a Russian character who was played by Leonid Kinskey.
In the original black and white pilot, General Burkhalter was originally a colonel.
In the pilot episode, Carter was a lieutenant and was only going to appear in that one episode.
Among the recurring characters who appeared on the show were female French resistance fighter Tiger (played by Arlene Martel (I)), Marya the White Russian (played by Nita Talbot) and the bumbling R.A.F. officer Colonel Crittendon (played by Bernard Fox (I)).
Another recurring character was Burkhalter's sister Frau Gertrude Linkmeyer, usually played by Kathleen Freeman (I), but on one occasion, in the fourth year, by Alice Ghostley, who also appeared in a final season episode as the wife of a Nazi field marshal.
Howard Caine appeared earlier in two episodes playing different characters before he took on the role of Major Hochstetter.
Larry Hovis, Sgt. Andrew Carter, refused to remove his wedding ring for the series. He wore gloves for the majority of his performance (although there were occasions when the ring was visible).
Col. Klink and Sgt. Schultz nicknamed Cpl. LeBeau "Cockroach."
Schultz's rank is a Master Sergeant.
The character of Sergeant Schultz, prior to the war, had been the president of a successful toy manufacturing company. Colonel Klink had previously been a bookkeeper.
Carter was from North Dakota and Kinch was from Detroit.
Even though Klink acts like a coward, his military decorations indicate he is a combat hero from both WWI and WW II.
The various code names that Hogan's outfit used were "Papa Bear", "Goldilocks", and "Little Red Riding Hood".
Most night scenes are filmed using a "Day for Night" lens which is a special lens used to make scenes filmed during the day to look like night.
The nearest town to Stalag 13 was Hammelburg.
Although the show was a hit in syndication in Germany, certain liberties had to be taken. It's illegal to say "Heil Hitler" in Germany today (and is considered bad taste), so when the German soldiers gave the party salute, the characters said "How high is your corn?" The absurdity of it all was especially funny to German viewers.
Schultz always called Hogan and his men "jolly jokers" whenever they played a trick on him.
Salt was used to represent snow.
The show was still very popular in its final season on the air. However, it was caught up in the "rural purge" that took place just before the 1971-1972 television season. The main reason it was canceled was due to the fact that it was felt that the show mainly appealed to rural audiences and older people in much the same way that shows like "The Beverly Hillbillies" (1962), "Green Acres" (1965) and "Hee Haw" (1969) were.
Richard Dawson (I) auditioned for the role of Hogan, but lost to Bob Crane (I). This led to friction between the two actors and when Crane was killed in 1978, Dawson did not attend the funeral.
The leather jacket that Bob Crane (I) wore in this series was originally worn by Frank Sinatra in Von Ryan's Express (1965). It was later worn by Greg Kinnear in Auto Focus (2002).
The set of Stalag 13 was built on the spot where the plantation house Tara once stood in Gone with the Wind (1939) - on the 40-acre back lot at Culver City that was also home for Mayberry in "The Andy Griffith Show" (1960) and Camp Henderson in "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." (1964).
Early in production planning it was decided to make it always be winter with snow on the ground and frost on the windows. This was to prevent problems with continuity and to allow the episodes to be shown in any order. Since much of the filming was done in the summer the actors had to wear coats and act cold even when the temperature was over 90 degrees F.
General Burkhalter's Iron Cross is the "Knight's Cross with diamonds and swords".
General Burkhalter’s staff car was actually an American hybrid with a Mercedes Benz logo on it. Col. Klink’s staff car was a 1936 Mercedes 540 SS.
Whenever Colonel Hogan wanted to butter up Colonel Klink, he would refer to him as "The Iron Colonel" or "The Iron Eagle".

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