Werner Klemperer, everyone's favorite TV German Air Force colonel, was best known for his role as the bumbling Col. Wilhelm Klink on the comedy series Hogan's Heroes. Although he'll forever be known as the blustering but inept German commandant of Stalag 13, Klemperer was in fact a talented dramatic actor, as evidenced by his acclaimed performance as an arrogant, unrepentant Nazi judge being tried for crimes against humanity in Judgment at Nuremberg. His identification with Nazi roles notwithstanding, Klemperer was in real life a Jew who fled with his family from Nazi Germany in the 1930s. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II. When he was offered the Col. Klink role, Klemperer only agreed to do it if the show's producers promised that Klink would never succeed in any of his schemes. "Col. Klink" earned Klemperer four Emmy nominations, and he took home the trophy twice, in 1968 and 1969. Since the end of the series, Klemperer has carved out an impressive musical career as a conductor and also served as a narrator with many major U.S. symphony orchestras. He was an accomplished concert violinist.


Served in the U.S. Army from 1942-1945. Son of conductor Otto Klemperer. Klemperer also appeared as a narrator with nearly every major symphony orchestra in the United States. His repertoire included such works as Beethoven's "Egmont" and "Fidelio," Stravinsky's "L'Historie du Soldat" and "Oedipus Rex." Although he was most famous for playing a colonel in the German Luftwaffe (air corps), Klemperer's family were German Jews who fled Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Immersed himself into teaching himself English so completely, that he found himself actuially thinking and dreaming in English. Is portrayed by Kurt Fuller in Auto Focus (2002). During World War II, served in the U.S. Army and was assigned to Maurice Evans' Special Entertainment Unit serving with fellow actor Carl Reiner. He was nominated for a 1975 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Guest Artist for his performance in "The Great Sebastians," at the Ivanhoe Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.