Robert Clary (born Robert Max Widerman; March 1, 1926 – November 16, 2022) was a French actor mainly active in the United States. He is best known for his role in the television sitcom ''
Hogan's Heroes
''Hogan's Heroes'' is an American television sitcom set in a Nazi German prisoner-of-war (POW) camp during World War II. It ran for 168 episodes (six seasons) from September 17, 1965, to April 4, 1971, on the CBS network, the longest broadcast ...
'' as Corporal Louis LeBeau (1965–1971). He also had recurring roles in the soap operas ''
Days of Our Lives
''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that streams on the streaming service Peacock. The soap, which aired on the American television net ...
'' (1972–1987), and ''
The Bold and the Beautiful
''The Bold and the Beautiful'' (often referred to as ''B&B'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. It premiered on March 23, 1987, as a sister show to the Bells' other soap opera ''The Yo ...
'' (1990–1992).
Early life and Holocaust survival
Born in 1926 in Paris, France, Clary was the youngest of 14 children, 10 of whom died in
the Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
.
His parents, Baila and Moishe Widerman, were Polish Jewish immigrants.
At age 12, he began a career singing professionally on a French radio station and also studied art in Paris.
In 1942, because he was
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
, he was deported to the
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
concentration camp
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
at Ottmuth, in
Upper Silesia
Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, located ...
(now Otmęt,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
). He was tattooed with the identification "A5714" on his left forearm. He was later sent to
Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...
.
At Buchenwald, Clary sang to an audience of
SS soldiers every other Sunday, accompanied by an
accordion
Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...
ist. He said, "Singing, entertaining, and being in kind of good health at my age, that's why I survived. I was very immature and young and not really fully realizing what situation I was involved with ... I don't know if I would have survived if I really knew that."
Writing about his experience, Clary said:
We were not even human beings. When we got to Buchenwald, the SS shoved us into a shower room to spend the night. I had heard the rumours about the dummy shower heads that were gas jets. I thought, 'This is it.' But no, it was just a place to sleep. The first eight days there, the Germans kept us without a crumb to eat. We were hanging on to life by pure guts, sleeping on top of each other, every morning waking up to find a new corpse next to you. ... The whole experience was a complete nightmare — the way they treated us, what we had to do to survive. We were less than animals. Sometimes I dream about those days. I wake up in a sweat terrified for fear I'm about to be sent away to a concentration camp, but I don't hold a grudge because that's a great waste of time. Yes, there's something dark in the human soul. For the most part, human beings are not very nice. That's why when you find those who are, you cherish them.
Clary was liberated from Buchenwald on April 11, 1945. Twelve other members of his immediate family had been sent to
Auschwitz concentration camp
Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
; Clary was the only survivor. When he returned to Paris after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, he learned that only three of his 13 siblings had not been taken away and had survived the
Nazi occupation of France
The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...
.
Career
![Robert Clary Capitol Records circa 1950](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Robert_Clary_Capitol_Records_circa_1950.JPG)
Clary returned to the entertainment business and began singing songs that became popular not only in France, but in the United States as well.
Clary made his first recordings in 1948; they were brought to the United States on
wire
Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample diameter 40 mm
A wire is a flexible strand of metal.
Wire is c ...
and were issued on disk by
Capitol Records
Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...
.
He went to the U.S. in October 1949. One of Clary's first American appearances was a French-language comedy skit on ''
The Ed Wynn Show
''The Ed Wynn Show'' was an American variety show originally broadcast from September 22, 1949 to July 4, 1950, on the CBS Television Network. Comedian and former vaudevillian Ed Wynn was the star of the program's 39 episodes, which were the firs ...
'' in 1950. Clary later met
Merv Griffin
Mervyn Edward Griffin Jr. (July 6, 1925 – August 12, 2007) was an American television show host and media mogul. He began his career as a radio and big band singer, later appearing in film and on Broadway. From 1965 to 1986 he hosted his own ta ...
and
Eddie Cantor
Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz; January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Familiar to Broadway, radio, movie, and early television audiences, ...
. This eventually led to Clary meeting Cantor's daughter, Natalie Cantor Metzger, whom he married in 1965, after being "the closest of friends" for 15 years.
Cantor later got Clary a spot on ''
The Colgate Comedy Hour
''The Colgate Comedy Hour'' was an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC network from 1950 to 1955. The show featured many notable comedians and entertainers of the era as guest stars. Many of the scripts of the series ...
''.
In the mid-1950s, Clary appeared on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
's early sitcom ''
The Martha Raye Show'' and on
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
's drama
anthology series
An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a differ ...
''Appointment with Adventure''.
Clary's comedic skills were quickly recognized by
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
, where he appeared in several popular musicals, including
Leonard Sillman Leonard Sillman (May 9, 1908 - January 23, 1982) was an American Broadway producer. Born in Detroit, Michigan on May 9, 1908, he was the brother of June Carroll, the brother-in-law of Sidney Carroll and the uncle of Steve Reich and Jonathan Carroll. ...
's
revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own duri ...
''
New Faces of 1952
''New Faces of 1952'' is a musical revue with songs and comedy skits. It ran on Broadway for nearly a year in 1952 and was then made into a motion picture in 1954. It helped launch the careers of several young performers including Paul Lynde, Alic ...
'', which was produced as a film in 1954.
In 1952, he appeared in the film ''
Thief of Damascus
'' Thief of Damascus '' is a 1952 American Technicolor adventure film directed by Will Jason and starring Paul Henreid. The film features a generous use of stock footage from such films as ''Joan of Arc''. The film, produced by Sam Katzman, was ...
'' which also starred
Paul Henreid
Paul Henreid (November 10, 1908 – March 29, 1992) was an Austrian-British- American actor, director, producer, and writer. He is best remembered for two film roles; Victor Laszlo in '' Casablanca'' and Jerry Durrance in ''Now, Voyager'', ...
and
Lon Chaney Jr.
Creighton Tull Chaney (February10, 1906 – July12, 1973), known by his stage name Lon Chaney Jr., was an American actor known for playing Larry Talbot in the film '' The Wolf Man'' (1941) and its various crossovers, Count Alucard (Dra ...
In 1958, he guest-starred on ''
The Gisele MacKenzie Show
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
'' (NBC). He guest-starred on ''
The Munsters Today
''The Munsters Today'' is an American sitcom and a revival of the original 1964–66 sitcom '' The Munsters'' that aired in syndication from October 8, 1988, to May 25, 1991.
Plot
The series concerns the day-to-day life of a family of benign m ...
'' (1989) as Louis Schecter, Lily's acting coach, in the episode "Green Eyed Munsters".
In 1959, he was cast in the title role of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in a British production of an
Edward Chodorov
Edward Chodorov (April 17, 1904 – October 9, 1988), was a Broadway playwright, and the writer or producer of over 50 motion pictures.
Filmography
* ''Kind Lady (1951 film), Kind Lady'' (1951, writer)
* ''Road House (1948 film), Road House'' ...
play, ''Monsieur Lautrec''. The play ran for two weeks at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry. Although ''
The Stage
''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...
'' panned the play, it praised Clary for portraying Lautrec "with a delicacy and yet moving intenseness."
LeBeau on ''Hogan's Heroes''
![Robert Clary Cynthia Lynn Hogans Heroes](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Robert_Clary_Cynthia_Lynn_Hogans_Heroes.JPG)
In 1965, the diminutive 155 cm (5 ft 1 in) Clary was offered the role of Corporal Louis LeBeau on a new television sitcom called ''
Hogan's Heroes
''Hogan's Heroes'' is an American television sitcom set in a Nazi German prisoner-of-war (POW) camp during World War II. It ran for 168 episodes (six seasons) from September 17, 1965, to April 4, 1971, on the CBS network, the longest broadcast ...
'', and he accepted the role when the pilot sold. The series was set in a German
prisoner of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...
(POW) camp during World War II, and Clary played a French POW who was a member of an Allied sabotage unit operating from inside the camp.
Asked about parallels between LeBeau's incarceration and his own, Clary said, "Stalag 13 is not a concentration camp. It's a POW camp, and that's a world of difference. You never heard of a prisoner of war being gassed or hanged. When the show went on the air, people asked me if I had any qualms about doing a comedy series dealing with Nazis and concentration camps. I had to explain that it was about prisoners of war in a
Stalag, not a concentration camp, and although I did not want to diminish what soldiers went through during their internments, it was like night and day from what people endured in concentration camps."
Clary became one of the last two surviving principal cast members of ''Hogan's Heroes'', with
Kenneth Washington (Sergeant Richard Baker, final season), when
Cynthia Lynn (Helga, first season, 1965–1966) died on March 10, 2014.
Later life and career
After ''Hogan's Heroes'' was cancelled in 1971, Clary maintained close ties to fellow ''Hogan's Heroes'' cast members
Werner Klemperer
Werner Klemperer (March 22, 1920 – December 6, 2000) was an American actor. He was known for playing Colonel Wilhelm Klink on the CBS television sitcom ''Hogan's Heroes'', for which he twice won the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in ...
,
John Banner
John Banner (born Johann Banner, January 28, 1910 – January 28, 1973) was an Austrian-born American actor, best known for his role as Sergeant Schultz in the situation comedy ''Hogan's Heroes'' (1965–1971). Schultz, constantly encou ...
, and
Leon Askin
Leon Askin (; born Leon Aschkenasy, 18 September 1907 – 3 June 2005) was an Austrian Jewish actor best known in North America for portraying the character General Burkhalter on the TV situation comedy ''Hogan's Heroes''.
Life and career
...
, whose lives were also affected by the Holocaust. Following the show's cancellation, he appeared in a handful of feature films with
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
themes, including the made-for-television film ''
Remembrance of Love
''Remembrance of Love'' is a 1982 war film directed by Jack Smight and starring Kirk Douglas. A reunion of Holocaust survivors in Israel brings together a couple who had been teenage lovers 35 years earlier in Poland during the Second World War. I ...
'', about the Holocaust. Clary also appeared on the soap operas ''
Days of Our Lives
''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that streams on the streaming service Peacock. The soap, which aired on the American television net ...
'', ''
The Young and the Restless
''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, Wi ...
'', and ''
The Bold and the Beautiful
''The Bold and the Beautiful'' (often referred to as ''B&B'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. It premiered on March 23, 1987, as a sister show to the Bells' other soap opera ''The Yo ...
''.
Clary appeared in the 1975 film ''
The Hindenburg'', which portrayed a fictional plot to blow up the German airship after it arrived at the
Lakehurst Naval Air Station. He played Joseph Späh, a real-life passenger on the airship's final voyage.
Clary spent years touring Canada and the United States, speaking about the Holocaust. He was a painter, painting from photographs he took on his travels.
Clary published a memoir, ''From the Holocaust to Hogan's Heroes: The Autobiography of Robert Clary'', in 2001.
Death
Clary died at his Los Angeles home on November 16, 2022, at age 96.
Films
* ''Ten Tall Men
''Ten Tall Men'' is a 1951 American adventure film starring Burt Lancaster about the French Foreign Legion during the Rif War in Morocco. Though co-written and directed by Willis Goldbeck, Goldbeck walked off the film due to disputes with Lancaste ...
'' (1951) — Mossul
* ''Thief of Damascus
'' Thief of Damascus '' is a 1952 American Technicolor adventure film directed by Will Jason and starring Paul Henreid. The film features a generous use of stock footage from such films as ''Joan of Arc''. The film, produced by Sam Katzman, was ...
'' (1952) — Aladdin
* ''New Faces
''New Faces'' is a British television talent show that aired in the 1970s and 1980s. It has been hosted by Leslie Crowther, Derek Hobson and Marti Caine. It was produced for the ITV network by ATV, and later by Central.
Original series: 197 ...
'' (1954) — various songs and characters in this musical comedy revue, reprising his role from Broadway's ''New Faces of 1952''
* ''A New Kind of Love
''A New Kind of Love'' is a 1963 American romantic comedy film written, directed, and produced by Melville Shavelson and starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. Frank Sinatra sings "You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me" over the opening credi ...
'' (1963) — Frenchman at restaurant
* '' The Hindenburg'' (1975) — Joseph Späh
* ''Remembrance of Love
''Remembrance of Love'' is a 1982 war film directed by Jack Smight and starring Kirk Douglas. A reunion of Holocaust survivors in Israel brings together a couple who had been teenage lovers 35 years earlier in Poland during the Second World War. I ...
'' (1982) — played himself as an Auschwitz survivor[DVD Video. Legacy Entertainment, Inc. Stars ]Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in ''The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. Do ...
and Pam Dawber
Pamela Dawber (born October 18, 1951) is an American actress best known for her lead television sitcom roles as Mindy McConnell in ''Mork & Mindy'' (1978–1982) and Samantha Russell in ''My Sister Sam'' (1986–1988).
Early life
Dawber was bor ...
Television
* ''Hogan's Heroes
''Hogan's Heroes'' is an American television sitcom set in a Nazi German prisoner-of-war (POW) camp during World War II. It ran for 168 episodes (six seasons) from September 17, 1965, to April 4, 1971, on the CBS network, the longest broadcast ...
'' (1965–1971) — Corporal Louis LeBeau
* ''The High Chaparral
''The High Chaparral'' television series, which was broadcast on NBC from 1967 to 1971, is an American Western action adventure drama set in the 1870s. It stars Leif Erickson and Cameron Mitchell. The series was made by Xanadu Productions in ...
'' (1967–1971) — Lucien Chariot
* ''Days of Our Lives
''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that streams on the streaming service Peacock. The soap, which aired on the American television net ...
'' (1972–1973, 1975–1983, 1986–1987) — Robert LeClair
* ''The Young and the Restless
''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, Wi ...
'' (1973–1974) — Pierre Roulland
* ''Fantasy Island
''Fantasy Island'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by Gene Levitt. It aired on ABC from 1977 to 1984. The series starred Ricardo Montalbán as the mysterious Mr. Roarke and Hervé Villechaize as his assistant, Tattoo. Gu ...
'' (1978) — Ipsy Dauphin in "Escape/Cinderella girls"
* ''The Bold and the Beautiful
''The Bold and the Beautiful'' (often referred to as ''B&B'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. It premiered on March 23, 1987, as a sister show to the Bells' other soap opera ''The Yo ...
'' (1990–1992) — Pierre Jourdan
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
Interview with Clary about his experiences being arrested by the Germans during World War II
nbsp;— filmed when the C-SPAN School Bus visited the Simon Wiesenthal Center
The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) is a Jewish human rights organization established in 1977 by Rabbi Marvin Hier. The center is known for Holocaust research and remembrance, hunting Nazi war criminals, combating anti-Semitism, tolerance educat ...
Library & Archives, aired February 9, 1999
Interview March, 2016
The Spectrum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clary, Robert
1926 births
2022 deaths
American male soap opera actors
American male television actors
Buchenwald concentration camp survivors
French emigrants to the United States
Jewish American male actors
Male actors from Paris
Writers from Paris
Writers from Los Angeles
20th-century French Jews
21st-century American Jews
20th-century American male actors
20th-century French male singers