Robert Clary, Hogan's Heroes star and Auschwitz survivor, dies at 96
Robert Clary, a Holocaust survivor and an actor best known for his role in the World War II–set sitcom Hogan's Heroes, died Wednesday morning at his Los Angeles home, his former manager David Martin confirmed to EW. He was 96.
"Robert's passing is incredibly sad," Martin said in a statement. "He retired from acting a number of years ago and so there was no reason to continue our 20-plus years long managerial relationship. Robert was an amazing gentleman and incredibly talented, not just as an actor but also a performer and a gifted painter. He was one of my most favorite people I represented. Now he can once again be reunited with Natalie the love of his life."
Clary's wife, Natalie Cantor Metzger, died in 1997.
Kim Wright, Clary's granddaughter, first confirmed the news to The Hollywood Reporter. A cause of death was not provided.
Clary was one of the last surviving cast members of Hogan's Heroes, which aired on CBS for more than six seasons starting in 1965. In it, Bob Crane starred as Col. Robert E. Hogan, an American leading an international group of Allied prisoners of war to defeat the Nazis from inside the Luft Stalag 13 POW camp. Clary portrayed Cpl. Louis LeBeau, a French gourmet chef who trained the guard dogs to be friendly towards the prisoners.
Clary was born Robert Max Widerman in Paris on March 1, 1926. When he was 16, he and his family were rounded up by the Nazis and taken to Auschwitz concentration camp.
Clary spoke with THR in 2015 about this experience. "Our lives changed when the Germans occupied France," he said. "It was like night and day. Suddenly, [in] 1941, we Jews had to register as Jews, we had to wear a yellow Star of David on our clothes, we were not allowed to be in show business, we were not allowed to be in the street after 8 p.m., otherwise you'll be arrested and sent somewhere. The only thing we did not know was [the] extermination camps."
Clary's parents were murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Clary shared his mother's last words: "My mother said the most remarkable thing. She said, 'Behave.' She probably knew me as a brat. She said, 'Behave. Do what they tell you to do.'"
Clary said entertainment saved him. He began performing on stage at the Buchenwald concentration camp, where he was sent after Auschwitz. He vowed to be an entertainer, and his dream became a reality after Buchenwald was liberated in 1945. Clary was incarcerated for 31 months.
The future Hollywood star recorded his first songs in France in 1948. He moved to the U.S. a year later to make music for Capitol Records. One of his earliest performances as an actor was in a sketch on The Ed Wynn Show. He would appear both on stage on Broadway and in various television series.
Clary is best known for his turn in Hogan's Heroes. He wrote of the show in his 2001 memoir, From the Holocaust to Hogan's Heroes: "I had to explain that [Hogan's Heroes] was about prisoners of war in a stalag, not a concentration camp, and although I did not want to diminish what soldiers went through during their internments, it was like night and day from what people endured in concentration camps."
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