List of Hogan's Heroes characters
The following is a list of characters from Hogan's Heroes, an American sitcom television series which starred Bob Crane, Werner Klemperer and John Banner, and featured Robert Clary, Richard Dawson, Ivan Dixon, and Larry Hovis. It ran for six seasons on CBS from September 17, 1965, to April 4, 1971.
Main
Colonel Hogan
Colonel Robert E. Hogan – United States Army Air Corp Colonel Robert E. Hogan, senior ranking POW officer, is the leader of the group. Hogan commanded the 504th Bombardment Group prior to being shot down 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 the missions he 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. He is a ladies' man, engaging in different relationships with Klink's secretaries and most of the civilian women he comes in contact with. Throughout the show, Hogan is seen impersonating German officers, typically using aliases derived from his own name such as "Hoganmüller" or "Hoganschmidt".
Hogan's men are extremely loyal to their commander, and he to them. In "Two Nazis for the Price of One", Hogan and his men are ordered back to London after they discover their operation is known by a Gestapo general. When circumstances force Hogan to stay behind, the men all elect to remain with him, which visibly touches Hogan. Newkirk once disobeyed orders and explained the team's activities to an Allied general who was unaware of Hogan's real mission and chastised him for appearing to cooperate with the Nazis, with Newkirk telling the general he should "know how we all feel about Colonel Hogan". When a British general praised Hogan's war efforts, Hogan was quick to state that he "has a good crew", crediting the men with the team's successes.
Colonel Klink
Colonel Wilhelm Klink – Kommandant Oberst Wilhelm Klink is an old-line Luftwaffe officer of aristocratic Prussian descent. He is shown to be inept, a bit dimwitted, cowardly, arrogantly confident, vain, childish, and often clueless and rather gullible. 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 former implies that he also earned both an Iron Cross Second Class as well as 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 uniform who has not become a general. Klink always wears a monocle on his left eye, usually carries a riding crop, and walks with a stoop. Klink is for the most part portrayed as a vain, muddling, and incompetent career officer rather than as an 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.
Klemperer reprised his role as Colonel Klink outside of the series twice: once on the 1960s Batman series in a cameo role and in a 1993 episode of The Simpsons.
Sergeant Schultz
Sergeant Hans Schultz – Oberfeldwebel Hans Schultz is Klink's portly, inept, clumsy, yet affable Sergeant of the Guard. He displays two stripes at the cuffs of his tunic sleeves indicating the rank of Hauptfeldwebel, which is the equivalent of a Company First Sergeant with the same pay grade as Oberfeldwebel; he wears a fictitious version of the Iron Cross. Schultz also has three other decorations from World War I.Schultz is seen throughout the show taking bribes from the prisoners that are usually in the form of chocolate bars or LeBeau's gourmet cooking, often in exchange for information. Schultz tries to avoid trouble at all costs and prefers to ignore the prisoners' suspicious activities. His catchphrase is "I know nothing!" Schultz's penchant for disregarding the prisoners' antics is so great, Hogan and his men can usually rely on Schultz to keep his mouth shut and often will openly discuss their latest plot in his presence. Frequently, they will even tell Schultz directly what they are up to and enlist his help or participation in their schemes from time to time, usually amid his protestations. Schultz often seems to be more sympathetic to the allies than to the Germans. On several occasions, Schulz mentions how disgusted he is by the war and Hitler's rule and much preferred the days when Germany was led by the Kaiser. Like Colonel Klink, Schultz is a veteran of World War I and in civilian life was the owner of Germany's largest and most successful toy manufacturing company. He has a wife and five children, whom he sees only on infrequent leaves. He is unfaithful, however, as he is seen dating women from the nearby town of Hammelburg who often turn out to be underground agents assisting Hogan and his men. Schultz is a bad gambler and possibly alcoholic, but above all loves to eat, particularly LeBeau's exquisite cooking. Schultz carries a Krag-Jørgensen rifle, which he never keeps loaded and tends to misplace or even hand to the POWs when he's distracted.
Corporal LeBeau
Corporal Louis LeBeau – Free French Air Force Corporal Louis LeBeau is a Master Chef and occasionally a tailor, he is also one of the first POWs at Stalag 13. He is passionate about his cooking and patriotism for France, and he often spites Germans and Nazis when they commit war crimes. LeBeau makes uniforms for the prisoners smuggled through their tunnels, and helps with disguising Hogan's men in Nazi apparel. LeBeau has trained the camp guard dogs without the knowledge of the guards, and is often seen using the tunnel entrance located in the kennel. Though highly claustrophobic, he is used during missions to hide in small spaces such as the safe in Colonel Klink's office, boxes, crates, or a dumbwaiter. LeBeau also uses his talent as a singer to help the "Heroes" in several episodes.In one first-season episode, LeBeau refers to being married. Except for that one instance, he appears as a stereotypical Frenchman, attracted to many of the women with whom he comes in contact during the series. LeBeau frequently uses his culinary skills to impress Klink's guests or get him out of trouble with his superiors. Hogan also uses LeBeau's culinary prowess to gain access to Klink's guests at dinners or banquets, or to bargain for extra privileges. LeBeau is frequently seen bribing Schultz with food for information. Both Schultz and Klink frequently refer to LeBeau as "the cockroach", due to his small stature.
Actor Robert Clary is a French Jew who had been held in the Nazi concentration camps Ottmuth and Buchenwald, and still has his serial number tattooed on his arm.
Corporal Newkirk
Corporal Peter Newkirk – Royal Air Force Corporal Peter Newkirk is the group's conman. As a skilled tailor, Newkirk is 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 also uses his skills as a pick-pocket, lock picker and safe cracker on many occasions, particularly to open Klink's office safe. As a card sharp, Newkirk gambles with Schultz to learn about top secret information, and is often teamed with Carter in operations.Newkirk does numerous impersonations such as vaudeville personalities; he can impersonate German officers and is able to do a voice imitation of Adolf Hitler; he is shown imitating Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister. As a bit of a Casanova, Newkirk is often seen trying to initiate romance with the women who appear in the series.
Sergeant Kinchloe
Staff Sergeant James Kinchloe – United States Army Air Corp Staff Sergeant James "Kinch" Kinchloe is primarily responsible for radio, telephone, and other forms of electronic communications. Although outranked by TSgt. Carter, Kinch acts as second in command in Hogan's crew and is Chief of Operations. It was a large step 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 had worked for the telephone company and before the war fought in the Golden Gloves boxing matches as a middleweight. Kinchloe has remarkable ability when participating in undercover activities, but because of his skin color his roles outside of the camp are limited.
Ivan Dixon left the series after the end of the fifth season; no mention was ever made on-screen regarding Kinchloe's departure from Stalag 13.
Sergeant Baker
Sergeant Richard Baker – Following Dixon's departure from the show after season five, the series producers chose to create a new character rather than recast the part of Kinchloe. Sergeant Richard Baker, like Kinchloe, was an African-American radio expert who ran the underground communications center. However, with Kinchloe's departure, Newkirk is elevated to the Chief of Operations/Chief of Staff role during the sixth season. As with Kinchloe, Baker is able to contribute vital support to the missions assigned to him by Col. Hogan.Sergeant Carter
Technical Sergeant Andrew Carter – United States Army Air Corps Technical Sergeant Andrew J. Carter is a chemist and an explosives expert in charge of ordnance and bomb-making. Prior to the war, Carter was a Boy Scout who had run a drug store in Muncie, Indiana. In the pilot episode, "The Informer", Carter has the rank of first lieutenant, and is an escapee from another POW camp who swaps places with the "outside man", Olsen, while temporarily being brought into Stalag 13. In the series, Carter shows a great talent in chemistry and explosives; he has a passion for making and producing formulas, chemicals, and explosive devices when needed. While bright and enthusiastic at his specialties, he is often clumsy and forgetful. Carter is often called upon to impersonate German officers, most convincingly, Adolf Hitler, to whom he bears more than a passing resemblance.Carter sometimes references his fiancée Mary Jane, whom he expects to marry after the war. Unlike the rest of the men, he is shown to be shy around women, and Newkirk and LeBeau often joke about his naïveté. Although Carter is the ranking non-commissioned officer, he is never shown to exercise any real authority over the other prisoners.
Recurring
- Fräulein Helga and Fräulein Hilda – Helga and Hilda served as Colonel Klink's secretary. Both were portrayed as neutral or pro-Allied in that they assisted Hogan and his men when not working for Klink, and had flirtatious personal relationships with Colonel Hogan. Both assist Hogan by providing general information or access to official papers and equipment. They also often provide verification for Hogan's statements when he tries to manipulate Klink, such as agreeing that Klink looks tired or sick. In addition, visiting dignitaries often attempt to flirt with Helga and Hilda, including invitations to dinner, which often aids Hogan and his men to create distractions, steal documents, or secretly make personal contact. In the pilot episode, Helga works as a manicurist in the prisoners' underground barber shop, but this is the only scene that shows her cooperation as that extensive. Sigrid Valdis appeared as a different character in one episode before obtaining the role of Hilda. She and Bob Crane were married on the show's set in 1970. Most of the cast and crew were present, and Richard Dawson served as Crane's best man.
- General Albert Hans Burkhalter – General Albert Burkhalter is Klink's gruff and rotund Wehrmacht Heer superior officer. His rank is equivalent to a lieutenant general in the American forces. Burkhalter frequently tires of Klink's obsequious manner and nervous babbling and regularly threatens to send him to the Russian Front or have him shot. Burkhalter is mystified by Stalag 13's perfect record, unable to make sense of it in contrast with Klink's apparent incompetence. However, Burkhalter, is sometimes shown to be a somewhat incompetent general himself. He is deathly afraid of his wife, and after Hogan manages to get photos of the General with other women in order to blackmail him, Burkhalter frantically agrees to do whatever is necessary to save his reputation. Like Klink, Burkhalter comes to depend on Hogan's explanations to get him out of trouble with the High Command when Hogan's schemes result in German failures.
- Major Wolfgang Hochstetter – Major ' Wolfgang Hochstetter of the Gestapo often takes it upon himself to investigate Klink and Stalag 13, or receives orders to do so. Because he is Gestapo, Klink is clearly fearful of him, while Burkhalter, who openly despises Hochstetter, is not. Though Hochstetter is highly suspicious of Hogan and has come to regard him as "the most dangerous man in all Germany", he also fails to see how he himself is manipulated by Hogan; Just like Klink and Burkhalter, whenever a Hogan scheme results in another German disaster, Hochstetter always accepts Hogan's advice about what to tell Berlin in order to save his own neck. Before becoming settled into the Hochstetter role, Caine played two other similar German officers, Gestapo Kriminaldirektor Feldkamp and Major Keitel.
- Colonel Rodney Crittendon – Colonel Rodney Crittendon is a Royal Air Force group captain. He is a British officer who comes into contact with Hogan and his men several times throughout the series. His date of rank is earlier than Hogan's, and as senior officer he occasionally attempts to assume command. His medals include the Distinguished Service Order, Order of the British Empire, Military Cross and Bar, and the Distinguished Flying Cross and Bar. He believes that a POW's only duty is to escape; to be involved in anything else, such as spying or sabotage, is strictly against regulations. Crittendon is shown to be amateurish and oblivious to Hogan's operation, much to Hogan's annoyance. When Crittendon first transferred from Stalag 18, Hogan posed him a hypothetical question, asking what he would do if he were aware the POWs were engaged in spying and sabotage; Crittendon replied that he would report them to the German authorities. Crittendon constantly tries to develop and attempt escapes, however they ultimately fail due to poor planning. In a dual role, Bernard Fox played British traitor Sir Charles Chitterly, who stops at Stalag 13 with his wife Lady Leslie Chitterly, while on their way to visit Adolf Hitler, whom they consider a friend. Lookalike Crittendon is parachuted into camp, and replaces Sir Charles.
- Marya – Marya is a Russian spy who occasionally works with Hogan. She often appears as the trusted paramour of a high-ranking German officer or scientist. Her mission is to either discredit them or set them up for arrest, as she notes that "...We cannot trust Hitler to shoot all his own generals". She meets Hogan and LeBeau in Paris during the second season, where she learns of their Stalag 13 activities. Her schemes often come into conflict with Hogan's plans, but she always proves to be either faithful to the Allied cause or have a compatible cause of her own. Marya constantly flirts with Hogan, to his discomfort, and also flirts with LeBeau. Infatuated, LeBeau trusts her and believes her to be an innocent, decent woman who won't sell out to the Nazis, though Hogan is always wary of her and suspicious of her motives.
- Tiger – Tiger is a French Underground contact who has several encounters with Hogan. Hogan notes that Tiger has saved his life at least once; He describes her as 'the' leader of the French Underground. Hogan frees Tiger from the Gestapo twice: once on the way to Berlin by train, and once from Gestapo headquarters in Paris.
- Captain Fritz or Felix Gruber – Captain Gruber is Klink's adjutant in "Don't Forget to Write", and becomes the new ruthless Kommandant of Stalag 13 after Klink mistakenly volunteers for the Russian Front. Because Gruber is hard-nosed and not easy to manipulate, the prisoners desperately want to get Klink back. Hogan orders three prisoners to escape and hide. When Gruber is unable to recapture them, Burkhalter orders Klink to find them, which he does with Hogan's aid. Burkhalter decides it would be a mistake to send Klink to the Russian Front and restores him to the Kommandant's position. In addition to Gruber, several other junior officers and capable NCO's are occasionally assigned to Klink's command, but Hogan always finds a way to get rid of them.
- Corporal Karl Langenscheidt – Corporal Karl Langenscheidt is one of Schultz's guards who is only seen or spoken of occasionally. He often arrives with poor timing, such as informing Klink that an important guest has arrived unannounced, much to Klink's displeasure. In "Art for Hogan's Sake", Langenscheidt gets involved in Hogan's scheme to forge the famous, priceless Édouard Manet painting, "The Fife Player", and switch it for the real one General Burkhalter had "requisitioned" from the Louvre in Paris to give to Hermann Göring as a birthday present.
- Frau Gertrude Linkmeyer – Frau Gertrude Linkmeyer is General Burkhalter's gruff, homely and possibly widowed sister. She is usually in a one-sided relationship with Klink, who does not return her affection. Her previous husband, Otto, is missing in action on the Russian Front, this leads General Burkhalter to arrange meetings between her and Klink in order to marry her off. Later in the series, Frau Linkmeyer arrives at the camp with her new fiancé, Major Wolfgang Karp, whom she intends to have replace Klink as Kommandant, but Hogan manages to foil her plans and their engagement.
- Maurice Dubois/Dubay – Maurice Dubois is a French Underground contact who appeared in several episodes.
- Major Bonacelli – Major Bonacelli is a visiting commander of an Italian prisoner-of-war camp who is at Stalag 13 to learn Klink's techniques. In "The Pizza Parlor", he is not supportive of the Fascist war effort and attempts to desert to Switzerland. Instead, Hogan convinces him to act as an Allied spy at the Italian POW camp. In "The Return of Major Bonacelli", Hogan talks Bonacelli into photographing the new advanced German anti-aircraft gun before defecting to England.
- Oscar Schnitzer is an elderly veterinarian and dog trainer who keeps Stalag 13 supplied with guard dogs. He is a member of the German underground, and secretly in league with Hogan and his men. Oscar's truck is also occasionally used for smuggling people in and out of camp, as the guards are afraid of the dogs.
- Olsen''' is the Heroes' "outside man"; when someone is brought into the camp, Olsen goes out to ensure that the number of prisoners remains the same. In the pilot episode "The Informer," Carter asks Hogan what Olsen does while he's out of the camp, and Hogan says, "We never ask him." In the episode "Some of Their Planes Are Missing," Olsen takes Hogan's place in a bed, pretending to be asleep, so that the Germans wouldn't know that Hogan was out of the camp.