Klemperer, Werner

▪ 2001

      German-born American actor (b. March 22, 1920, Cologne, Ger.—d. Dec. 6, 2000, New York, N.Y.), earned fame for his portrayal of Nazi Colonel Klink, a bumbling German prison-camp commandant, on the hit television sitcom Hogan's Heroes (1965–71). A Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany, Klemperer settled in the U.S. in the 1930s. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, he studied acting and appeared in a number of films, including Flight to Hong Kong (1956), The Goddess (1958), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), and Operation Eichmann (1961). In later years he performed as a narrator with American symphony orchestras; he also earned a Tony Award nomination for his work in the 1988 Broadway revival of the musical Cabaret.

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