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Hogan's Heroes

Plot

It began life as The Heroes, a seriocomic series set in an American penitentiary. But by the time CBS premiered it on September 17, 1965, the project had been retitled Hogan's Heroes and had been retooled as a situation comedy set in a German POW camp during WW2. Popular L.A. disc jockey Bob Cranestarred as Colonel Robert Hogan, senior American officer at Stalag 13, a supposedly inescapable prison compound. The advertising for the series was a bit misleading, suggesting that Hogan and his men had converted the camp into a luxurious country club, and that other POWs were eager to break in rather than break out. While it was true that the prisoners led a more comfortable life than was customary during the war years, Hogan's Heroes was not a tasteless spoof of the Nazi era but instead a secret-agent series with a laughtrack. As the head of an underground resistance operation, Hogan used his prison barracks as headquarters for a vast and highly efficient espionage operation, performing acts of sabotage and subterfuge and helping captured Allies escape the Germans right under the noses of the enemy. The "Heroes" maintained constant radio contact with London, and with the help of a large underground tunnel (and the indirect assistance of the camp's guard dogs, who had been charmed into docility by the prisoners), they were able to help win the war while remaining securely behind enemy lines throughout the duration. Also in the cast was Werner Klemperer as Col. Wilhelm Klink, the strutting pompous and utterly inept commandant of Stalag 13. Playing on Klink's monumental ego, as well as his mortal terror of the Gestapo and other such higher-ups, Hogan was able to dance rings around the commandant, and, in fact, was the real head of the Stalag. Similarly, Klink's second in command, Sgt. Schultz (John Banner), was a fat, amiable oaf who, terrified that if he ever spoke out about the suspicious activities of Hogan's men lest he be sent to the Russian Front for incompetence, was forever distancing himself from the action by exclaiming "I see NOTHINK! I know NOTHINK!" As for the "Heroes" themselves, they included the American Sgt. Andrew Carter (Larry Hovis), an explosive expert; British Cpl. Peter Newkirk (Richard Dawson), a topnotch guerilla fighter; French Cpl. Louis LeBeau, a superb gourmet chef who kept the roly-poly Schultz at bay with his succulent dishes; and African-American Sgt. James Kinchloe (Ivan Dixon), an electronics whiz (Dixon, the only black member of the cast, left the series at the end of season five and was more or less replaced by Kenneth Washington as Sgt. Richard Baker). Also in the cast on a recurring basis were Leon Askin as Klink's bombastic superior officer General Burkhalter, Howard Caine as short-tempered Gestapo operative Major Hochstetter, and Cynthia Lynn and Sigrid Valdis as Helga and Hilda, Klink's curvaceous blond secretaries with whom Hogan flirted shamelessly. Lasting six seasons -- or roughly two seasons longer than WW2 itself -- Hogan's Heroes ended its network run on July 4, 1971, thence moved on to syndicated-rerun heaven. ~ Rovi

Credit

Bernard Fein - Executive Producer, Edward H. Feldman - Executive Producer, Jerry Fielding - Composer (Music Score), Will H. Schaefer - Composer (Music Score), Albert S. Ruddy - Show Creator, Bernard Fein - Show Creator

Episodes

Hogan's Heroes: Season 01 (1965)
Filmed in black-and-white, the opening episode of Hogan's Heroes swiftly establishes the series' premise, wherein American POW Col. Robert Hogan (Bob Crane) and his fellow prisoners are shown running a terrifyingly efficient Allied espionage operation right under the noses of their stupid German captors, Col. Wilhelm Klink (Werner Klemperer) and Sgt. Hans Schultz (John Banner). A couple of details in the pilot episode would be altered in the subsequent color installments: prisoner Andrew Carter (Larry Hovis), identified as a lieutenant in the opener, was later "demoted" to sergeant; and (Leonid Kinskey), cast as Russian POW Vladimr Minsky, would be removed as a regular character once the series proper got under way. Fans of the series will notice that Klink is more nasty and Schultz less stupid in season one than in subsequent seasons; also, Klink's curvaceous blonde secretary is not Sigrid Valdis as Hilda, but instead Cynthia Lynn as Helga. Introduced during the series' first season are such recurring characters as Klink's fatuous superior officer General Burkhalter (Leon Askin), Kathleen Freeman as Burkhalter's Wagnerian sister Gertrude, and Bernard Fox as British POW Colonel Crittenden, whose slavish dedication to rules and regulations -- not to mention his stunning ineptitude -- bids fair to mess up every one of Hogan's missions to which he is assigned. Howard Caine, later cast as irascible SS officer Major Hochstetter, shows up during season one as a different character on the episode titled "Happy Birthday, Adolf." And in another episode of note, "The Prince from the Phone Company," Ivan Dixon, the series' only African-American regular, is allowed to stretch his acting muscles in the dual role of Sgt. Kinchloe and an African potentate. ~ Rovi

Hogan's Heroes: Season 02 (1966)
Season two of Hogan's Heroes finds Sigrid Valdis -- who later became the wife of series star Robert Crane -- making her first appearances as Hilda, curvaceous blonde secretary of dimwitted German prison-camp commandant Col. Klink (Werner Klemperer). Speaking of Klink, his character is far less the martinet and far more the buffoon during the series' second season; the same can be said of his second-in-command Sergeant Schultz (John Banner), whose self-protective "I see NOTHINK! I know NOTHINK!" mantra gets a real workout when he inadvertently accompanies American POW Hogan (Crane) and his fellow Allied espionage agents on a bombing mission! Several episodes stand out this season, beginning with the two-part "A Tiger Hunt in Paris," in which Nita Talbot is introduced in the recurring role of unpredictable Soviet underground agent Marya. Other highlights include "Reverend Kommandant Klink," in which Klink is hoodwinked into performing a marriage ceremony that will secure the loyalty to the Allied cause of a downed French pilot; and "Will the Real Adolf Please Stand Up," wherein series regular Larry Hovis (Sgt. Carter) is permitted to trot out his hilarious -- and devastatingly accurate -- impersonation of Adolf Hitler. ~ Rovi

Hogan's Heroes: Season 03 (1967)
American POW Col. Robert Hogan (Bob Crane) and his fellow prisoners continue to run a wide-ranging, superbly efficient espionage and sabotage operation right under the noses of their German captors as Hogan's Heroes enters its third season. Although the series "began" in the year 1944, it is apparently still 1944 even after two years on the air, as witness such episodes as "D-Day at Stalag 13," in which Hogan's men stage an elaborate hoax to distract Nazi attention from the Normandy Invasion, and "Two Nazis for the Price of One," wherein the Heroes dispose of a Gestapo agent who has tumbled to the secret of the Manhattan Project. In other developments, General Burkhalter (Leon Askin) steps up his efforts to marry off his Wagnerian sister Gertrude (Kathleen Freeman) to unwilling prison-camp commandant Col. Klink (Werner Klemperer); in "Axis Annie," Hogan and company engineer the downfall of a traitorous female radio personality (Louise Troy); and Ivan Dixon (Sgt. Kinchloe), the series' only African-American regular, is given another chance to display his considerable acting skills in "Is General Hammerschlag Burning?," in which he briefly enjoys a wartime romance with a disillusioned black nightclub singer played by Barbara McNair. While most of the third-season Hogan's Heroes episodes are lightweight comic entertainment, a disturbing note is inserted in the proceedings in "An Evening of Generals," in which Col. Hogan rather cold-bloodedly makes clear that he is willing to kill both Col. Klink and the lovable Sgt. Schultz (Leon Askin) for the greater good of the Allied cause. ~ Rovi

Hogan's Heroes: Season 04 (1968)
It's business as usual at German prison camp Stalag 13 as Hogan's Heroes launches its fourth season. Col. Robert Hogan (Bob Crane) continues to run a super-efficient sabotage and counterespionage operation from the confines of his prison barracks, and with the help of his well-trained "Heroes" Carter (Larry Hovis), Newkirk (Richard Dawson), Kinchloe (Ivan Dixon), and LeBeau (Robert Clary). And as in previous seasons, the camp's nominal commandant, the pompous and profoundly incompetent Col. Klink (Werner Klemperer), never suspects what Hogan is up to, while the fat and fumbling Sgt. Schultz (John Banner) refuses to see or hear anything that might get him in trouble. Of the season-four episodes, "Will the Blue Baron Strike Again?" is significant as the only installment in which Sgt. Schultz does not appear (at least, not in the currently available prints). Also worth noting is the episode titled "The Witness," in which the Germans somewhat incredibly allow Hogan to return to the United States but only to demand that the Allies surrender; and "Watch the Trains Go By," in which for the first and only time Alice Ghostley replaces Kathleen Freeman in the role of Gertrude Linkmeier, the Wagnerian would-be bride of the unwilling Klink. ~ Rovi

Hogan's Heroes: Season 05 (1969)
Season five of Hogan's Heroes gets off to a lively start with the episode "Hogan Goes Hollywood," in which American POW Col. Hogan (Bob Crane) and his fellow underground agents sabotage a German propaganda film. It is the first of several secret missions undertaken by Hogan's Heroes, who continue to operate a vast and extremely effective counterespionage operation from their prison barracks, right under the noses of their unwitting (and witless) captors, Col. Klink (Werner Klemperer) and Sgt. Schultz (John Banner). Fifth-season highlights include the return of Kathleen Freeman as Gertrude Linkmeier, the bombastic sister of Klink's superior officer General Burkhalter (Leon Askin). Also making a return appearance is Bernard Fox as the redoubtable British underground operative Col. Crittenden, whose rigid adherence to military protocol -- and his monumental stupidity -- is given quite a workout when he is forced to take over a delicate spy mission from the captured Hogan. Finally, and perhaps inevitably given the familiar "I know NOTHINK!" mantra of Sgt. Schultz, the viewer is treated with an episode titled "At Last--Schultz Knows Something." ~ Rovi

Hogan's Heroes: Season 06 (1970)
The sixth and final season of Hogan's Heroes features all the familiar characters, save one. Ivan Dixon, the series' only African-American regular, has vacated the role of electronics expert Sgt. Kinchloe; although Kinchloe's absence is never explained, he is for all intents and purposes replaced by another black character, Sgt. Richard Baker, played by Kenneth Washington. Otherwise, it is the mixture as before, with American POW Col. Robert Hogan (Bob Crane) efficiently running a vast Allied counterespionage and sabotage operation from within the walls of his prison barracks, with his dimwitted German captors Col. Klink (Werner Klemperer) and Sgt. Schultz (John Banner) never suspecting a thing -- or in the cast of Schultz, pretending never to suspect a thing lest he be shipped to the Russian Front for gross incompetence. Season six offers one of the series' most off-putting episodes, "Operation Tiger," which has Hogan and his fellow heroes committing cold-blooded murder (albeit with no bodies, blood, or onscreen violence) in order to rescue a sexy underground operative. On a lighter note, Bernard Fox plays a dual role as the irksome Allied spy Col. Crittenden and an aristocratic British traitor in the two-part story "Lady Chitterly's Lover;" and Alice Ghostley, who during season four briefly replaced Kathleen Freeman in the role of Col. Klink's would-be bride, Gertrude Linkmeier, shows up as the wife of a German general in "That's No Lady, That's My Spy." The series finale features Marlyn Mason in the role of beautiful singer-spy Lily Frankel (a part she'd played in earlier seasons), who helps Hogan and company destroy a German-guided missile base. ~ Rovi