List of Hogan's Heroes characters
The following is a list of characters from Hogan's Heroes, an American sitcom television series that ran on the CBS television network for 168 episodes over six seasons from September 17, 1965 to April 4, 1971.
Main
Colonel Hogan
United States Army Air Forces Colonel Robert E. Hogan is the main protagonist of the series. Hogan is the senior officer of the prisoners of war at Stalag 13, and leads a group who secretly sabotage the German war effort and help allies to escape Germany. Hogan commanded the 504th Bombardment Group, and was shot down and captured during a raid on Hamburg when Luftwaffe Colonel Albert Biedenbender guessed Hogan's plan and developed a successful defense. Hogan graduated third in his military class, and seems to thrive on difficult if not impossible missions. He was described by Biedenbender as having "a flair for the overcomplex" because of the complicated details of his plans.Due to Hogan's care in planning operations, the skill of his staff, and Hogan's success at manipulating Klink and Schultz, Hogan's team is usually successful. Throughout the show, Hogan impersonates German officers, typically using aliases derived from his own name, such as "Hoganschmidt." He is a ladies' man, engaging in relationships with Klink's secretaries, Helga and Hilda, as well as many of the civilian women with whom he comes into contact. In "The Ultimate Weapon" he even becomes romantically involved with a female SS officer.
Hogan's men are extremely loyal to their commander, as he is to them. In "Two Nazis for the Price of One", Hogan and his men are ordered back to London after their operations become known to a Gestapo general. When circumstances force Hogan to stay behind, the men elect to remain with him, which visibly touches Hogan. Newkirk once disobeyed orders to keep the team's activities secret and explained them to an Allied general who had chastised Hogan for appearing to cooperate with the Nazis. When a British general praises Hogan's war efforts, Hogan is quick to state that he "has a good crew", crediting the men with the team's successes.
The character was named after the actor Robert Hogan by friend and series creator Bernard Fein; Hogan actually appeared in two episodes of the show.
Colonel Klink
Kommandant Oberst Wilhelm Klink is an old-line Luftwaffe officer of Prussian descent. He is officious, gullible, cowardly, vain, inept, and often clueless. He is a veteran aviator of the First World War and can be seen wearing an Iron Cross First Class, along with the 1939 clasp for a second award, Ground Assault Badge of the Luftwaffe, and the Pilot's Badge. The first class Iron Cross implies that he has also earned both the Iron Cross Second Class and the Honor Cross for service in World War I.After failing his entrance exams for law or medical school, he received an appointment to a military academy and graduated 95th in his class. Stuck at the rank of colonel for twenty years with an efficiency rating "a few points above miserable", he is the only member of his class still in the Luftwaffe who has not risen to the rank of general. As far as the Wehrmacht knows, no prisoner has ever escaped Stalag 13 during Klink's command, a record he frequently touts. Klink always wears a monocle on his left eye and often carries a riding crop. Klink is, for the most part, portrayed as a cowardly and muddling career officer rather than a stereotypical evil German or ardent Nazi. Klink is easily manipulated by Hogan through a combination of flattery, chicanery, and playing on Klink's fear of being sent to the Russian Front or being arrested by the Gestapo. Although Klink tries to keep his relationship with Hogan at arm's length, he frequently seeks Hogan's advice when faced with professional challenges, which Hogan typically uses as an opportunity to help the Allied cause. Klink is an enthusiastic but untalented violinist.
Klemperer reprised his role as Colonel Klink outside of the series twice: once in a cameo in a 1966 episode of Batman, and again in a 1993 episode of The Simpsons:
- In the Batman episode, Klink had a window climb cameo where he tells Batman and Robin that he is looking for an underground agent in Gotham City.
- In the episode of The Simpsons, an unconscious Homer Simpson's guardian angel assumes the form of someone Homer would revere, trying first Sir Isaac Newton, with whom Homer is unfamiliar, then Klink. During their conversation, Homer reveals the truth of Hogan's operations to a surprised Klink.
Sergeant Schultz
Schultz seeks to avoid trouble at all costs, generally preferring to ignore the prisoners' suspicious activities, a desire he expresses with his catchphrase, "I know nothing!" Hogan and his crew often openly discuss or even carry out their operations in Schultz's presence and get him to ignore them, either by bribing him or pointing out how he could be implicated if he reports them to Klink. Schultz carries a Krag-Jørgensen rifle, though he never keeps it loaded, and tends to misplace it or even hand it to a prisoner when he is distracted.
Schultz seems ambivalent to the German war effort, once stating that, "In war, I do not like to take sides", and "Things were so much happier here when we had an emperor." Like Klink, Schultz is a veteran of World War I. In the episode "War Takes a Holiday", he says that in civilian life he was the owner of Germany's largest toy manufacturing company, however in other episodes he says that he is "a poor man." His claims of poverty are backed up by the fact that he is frequently short of money, even to the point of borrowing from the prisoners. He has a wife and five children, whom he sees only on infrequent leaves. He is apparently unfaithful, as he is sometimes seen dating women from the nearby town of Hammelburg, who usually turn out to be either underground agents assisting Hogan and his men or undercover Gestapo agents. Schultz is an enthusiastic but unsuccessful gambler, and above all loves to eat, particularly LeBeau's gourmet cooking.
Corporal LeBeau
Free French Air Force Corporal Louis LeBeau is a skilled chef and occasional tailor. He is passionate about his cooking and patriotism for France. LeBeau frequently uses his culinary skills to impress Klink's guests, and Hogan uses LeBeau's culinary prowess to gain access to Klink's guests at dinners or banquets. LeBeau is also frequently seen bribing Schultz with food for information. He is friendly with the camp's guard dogs, which makes it possible to use a hidden tunnel entrance located under a doghouse in the kennel. Though claustrophobic, due to his diminutive stature he sometime facilitates Hogan's operations by hiding in small spaces, such as the safe in Colonel Klink's office, boxes, crates, or a dumbwaiter. Because of his size, both Schultz and Klink frequently refer to LeBeau as "the cockroach".In one first-season episode, LeBeau mentions being married, but except for that one instance it is never referenced again. When Lebeau and Marya flirt on several occasions, he expresses a desire to marry her. LeBeau is portrayed as a stereotypical Frenchman, attracted to most of the beautiful women with whom he comes in contact.
Actor Robert Clary was a French Jew and Holocaust survivor who was held in the Ottmuth and Buchenwald concentration camps during the Second World War. He was the last surviving member of the original cast of Hogan's Heroes; Clary died on November 16, 2022, at the age of 96.
Corporal Newkirk
Royal Air Force Corporal Peter Newkirk had been a magician in civilian life. He uses his skills as a pick-pocket, forger, lock picker, and safe cracker on many occasions, particularly to forge Klink's signature or open the safe in Klink's office. As a card shark, Newkirk gambles with Schultz to learn secret information. He is also a skilled tailor, in charge of making or altering uniforms, civilian clothes, and other disguises as needed for missions or for prisoners to move out of Germany. He is often teamed with Carter in operations, and sometimes quarrels with LeBeau over English and French cultural differences.Newkirk is an excellent mimic and does numerous impersonations; he often impersonates German officers and can imitate the voices of Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill, as well as celebrities, such as Humphrey Bogart. Newkirk is a ladies' man, and often tries to initiate romance with the women who appear in the series.
Often the British voices heard on the radio as being from "London" were done by Richard Dawson, using a different, more "posh", accent than the one he used for Newkirk. Dawson had originally proposed using a Liverpool accent for Newkirk, but the producers rejected the idea.
Sergeant Kinchloe
United States Army Air Forces Staff Sergeant James "Kinch" Kinchloe is primarily responsible for radio, telephone, and other forms of electronic communications. In many episodes Kinch acts as the de facto second-in-command in Hogan's crew; it was notable for a 1960s television show to have an African-American actor identified in such a manner.A talented mimic, Kinchloe easily imitates German officers speaking over the radio or telephone. Kinch is from Detroit, where he worked for the telephone company before the war. Kinch was also a boxer, having fought in Golden Gloves matches as a middleweight; because of this experience, in one episode he is recruited to fight a guard from Stalag 13. Kinchloe has remarkable ability when participating in undercover activities, but due to his skin color, his roles outside of the camp are limited.
Ivan Dixon left the series after the fifth season and was replaced in the cast by Kenneth Washington. No mention was made on-screen of Kinchloe's departure from Stalag 13 and his role as radio operator was filled by Sgt. Baker, while Newkirk became Hogan's second-in-command.