GARY BURGHOFF HEARD THE SOUND BEFORE ANYONE ELSE ON THE SET

The sun was beginning to dip behind the jagged peaks of the Santa Monica mountains, casting long, amber shadows across the dusty trail. It was a quiet afternoon,…

THE DAY COLONEL POTTER LOST HIS COOL TO A CHIFFON DRESS

I was sitting there in the studio, the headphones feeling a bit heavy on my ears, and the host—a young fellow who probably wasn’t even born when we…

THE DAY SGT. SCHULTZ LOST MORE THAN HIS DIGNITY

It is funny how a single sound can bring it all back. I was sitting in this little studio last week, doing a podcast for a classic television…

WERNER KLEMPERER RECALLS THE DAY COLONEL KLINK FINALLY CRACKED

It was a crisp afternoon in the mid-nineties when Werner Klemperer sat down for what he thought would be a standard retrospective interview. He was older then, his…

THE DAY SERGEANT SCHULTZ BIT INTO A CLAY APPLE STRUDEL

John Banner sat back in the plush velvet chair of the television studio, his eyes twinkling under the bright stage lights. It was late in his career, and…

THE HILARIOUS TRUTH BEHIND THE GOURMET MEALS ON HOGANS HEROES

The lights in the small auditorium were dim, but Robert Clary’s smile was as bright as it had been in 1965. He sat on the stage during a…

THE DAY SERGEANT SCHULTZ GOT STUCK IN THE STALAG TUNNEL

Interviewer: We are sitting here with the one and only Richard Dawson. Richard, the stories from the set of Hogan’s Heroes are legendary, but people always want to…

THE DAY THE SCHNITZEL REBELLED AGAINST SERGEANT SCHULTZ

The host leaned forward, adjusting his headphones as the studio lights caught the silver in his hair. He looked at the guest across from him, a man whose…

WE LAUGHED IN THE SHADOW OF THE GUARD TOWER… THEN IT HIT US

The sun was sinking low over the backlot in Culver City, casting long, skeletal shadows across the patch of dirt where Stalag 13 used to stand. Robert Clary…

THE DAY SERGEANT SCHULTZ LITERALLY TRIED TO EAT THE ENTIRE SET

It is funny how a single object can just snap you back. You sit in a room like this, decades later, and the interviewer pulls out a dusty,…