THE DAY COLONEL KLINK FINALLY LOST HIS COOL ON THE SET
The studio lights were a bit softer than they used to be, and the audience was hushed, leaning in to catch every word from the man who had…
THE STALAG RADIOS WENT DARK BUT THE VOICES NEVER LEFT
The air inside the old soundstage at Paramount didn’t smell like Hollywood anymore. It smelled like heavy dust, ancient electrical wiring, and something that Robert Clary could only…
THE DAY THE HOOP SKIRT DECLARED WAR ON THE MASH SET
I am sitting on a draped stage at a fan convention in Las Vegas, and the room is absolutely packed with people wearing olive drab. There is a…
TELEVISION’S ETERNAL BOY… BUT HIS SILENT STRUGGLE WAS HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT
The heat in the Santa Monica Mountains could be suffocating. Between takes on the set of the 4077th, the actors would scramble for any patch of shade they…
THE MUSICAL MISADVENTURES OF THE MAN WHO PLAYED COLONEL KLINK
The host leans forward, the low glow of the studio lights reflecting off his coffee mug. He slides a grainy, black-and-white promotional still across the table toward Werner…
THE TRAPDOOR WAS SEALED DECADES AGO BUT THE GHOSTS REMAINED
Robert Clary and Richard Dawson stood on a patch of sun-bleached asphalt where a world of barbed wire once lived. The Hollywood sun was bright, far too bright…
THE MAN WHO SAW NOTHING BUT LAUGHED AT EVERYTHING
The auditorium was packed with people who had grown up watching Stalag 13 every Friday night. I remember sitting there, adjusting my tie, feeling the weight of the…
THE LAUGH WE SHARED IN STALAG 13 CARRIED A DEEPER WEIGHT
The sun was beginning to dip behind the old soundstages at Paramount, casting long, skeletal shadows across the patch of dirt where a world of barbed wire once…
THE RADIO WAS FAKE BUT THE BROTHERHOOD WAS REAL
The warehouse was drafty and smelled of floor wax and forgotten things. Robert Clary moved slowly through the rows of crates, his small frame draped in a coat…
THE DAY COLONEL KLINK FINALLY LOST HIS COLD GERMAN COMPOSURE
You know, people often ask me if I ever felt a bit of… what is the word… professional jealousy regarding the laughs John Banner got. Werner Klemperer settles…