RIP Robert Clary

[BTExpress]

I am CONSTANTLY quoting Get Smart. In fact, every time I say "missed it" now, my wife asks, "by how much?"

Whenever I see something ridiculously huge, I say, "That's the SECOND-biggest . . ."

Not quite as well known a catchphrase.

 

[da man]

Whenever I see something ridiculously huge, I say, "That's the SECOND-biggest . . ."

Not quite as well known a catchphrase.

Sorry about that, Chief.

 

[Jake from State Farm]

Sorry about that, Chief.

Would you believe…

 

[LanceyHoward]

The beauty of F Troop is EVERYONE (except maybe Wrangler Jane) is a bumbling idiot. Plus, Wild Eagle was a partner of O'Rourke -- they were on equal footing.

I think the Indians came across as humorless.

Maybe I think that because I found F Troop to be basically a ripoff of McHale's Navy. McHale's Navy was vastly better notably because of the presence of Tim Conway and Joe Flynn.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

"Get Smart" did not hit my local syndication area until the late 1970s, well later than "Hogan's Heroes."

The latter could get made today as a drama with maybe some light moments.

 

[misterbc]

A book I authored involved researching the big air training base in Brandon, Manitoba. A hockey player’s father trained pilots who arrived from throughout the Commonwealth. Both FDR and Churchill cited the base as important in the Allies war effort. It was fun research.

My mother was born in Rivers, Manitoba just a few miles from Brandon and there was a military installation there, too. Her father was recruited from England as a plain old railway engineer to help with the construction of the military complexes there and in the early 40s moved back to England and re employed by BritRail. She was born in England but became Canadian after moving here. She became a celebrity in the tiny town by becoming the first woman to enlist in the Army. Near the end of her life she showed me the newspaper clippings as a well as a trove of her other goodies. After she passed my sister and I found a small diary that detailed her hilarious dating exploits, apparently 2 a day sometimes, circumventing curfews and drinking and dancing at the PX. I keep thinking about the scene in “A League of Their Own”.

 

[Slacker]

Hogan's Heroes is obviously not an all time great television show. The premise of the show was too contrived. But it could have gone down as the worst show in the history of television. But I don't think any show in television had a better set of character acters. You can start with Col. Klink and Sgt. Schultz. Werner Klemperer and John Banner were able to turn Nazi prison camp personnel into humorous and memorable characters and not villians which required incredible acting talent. The actors who played the prisoners also created great characters. Lebeau, Newkirk and Sgt, Carter were outstanding.

Ivan Dixon as Kinch, too.

I loved Richard Dawson as Newkirk. Not so much on "Family Feud." Not much at all, really.

He was always Newkirk to me. Like, years later, when Murray Slaughter became Capt. Stubing.

 

[da man]

"Get Smart" did not hit my local syndication area until the late 1970s, well later than "Hogan's Heroes."

The latter could get made today as a drama with maybe some light moments.

You mean, like Stalag 17?

 

[da man]

I think the Indians came across as humorless.

Maybe I think that because I found F Troop to be basically a ripoff of McHale's Navy. McHale's Navy was vastly better notably because of the presence of Tim Conway and Joe Flynn.

BTW, don't forget Carl "The Great" Ballantine.

 

[Neutral Corner]

My father commanded an Army infantry company that fought German paratroopers in the hedgerow country in France. He hated "Hogan's Heroes".

"Son, the godamned Germans were a lot of things, but stupid wasn't one of them."

 

[garrow]

Where and when I grew up, we never had HH on syndication. It was always Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie. And the Monkees later.

 

[Liut]

There is a book about Crane and his murder that provided me with good insight into the series and its cast members, including Mr. Clary. Robert Graysmith is the author (the Zodiac guy). I highly recommend it. RIP

 

[OscarMadison]

Every show on this thread was rewatched in syndication. It never occurred to me it was once upon a time a part of the Big Three networks' primetime* programming. My mother hipped me to that when I was nine. ("You mean they didn't make black and white shows that way on purpose?!?!?!") Being a wee thing, I was educated early on about the virtues of shoe phones and flip-top communicators. (Thanks Dad! Also, thanks for letting me sit with you while we watched Bobby Orr take flight on the little black and white TV in the kitchen.)

Shreveport and Lubbock affiliates and UHF stations kept the love and electric babysitting going with Father Knows Best, Leave It To Beaver, Gilligan's Island, Bewitched, F Troop, Bonanza, and my favorites, The Big Valley, Star Trek, Get Smart, The Man From Uncle, The Avengers, and Daktari.


*Not even a thing yet. Was it Fred Silverman who came up with that?

 

[Neutral Corner]

One of the things that blew my mind when my son was little was his love for The Donna Reed Show on Nickelodeon. Gilligan and Leave it to Beaver and the like I understood, but Donna Reed was the most whitebread TV show imaginable.

 

[Brian J Walter]

Last surviving member of the cast of "Hogan's Heroes," he himself spent 31 months in Buchenwald. His parents were gassed. Also played in "Young and Restless" and the spinoff "Bold and Beautiful."

Robert Clary Dead: ‘Hogan’s Heroes’ Actor Was 96 – The Hollywood Reporter

Isn't Baker still alive? He didn't join until the last season but he was still a regular cast member.

 

[Liut]

Isn't Baker still alive? He didn't join until the last season but he was still a regular cast member.

My understanding is Mr. Washington is still with us.

 

[misterbc]

One of the things that blew my mind when my son was little was his love for The Donna Reed Show on Nickelodeon. Gilligan and Leave it to Beaver and the like I understood, but Donna Reed was the most whitebread TV show imaginable.

Maybe he had the hots for Donna, can’t blame him, she was a hell of a good looking woman.

 

[Neutral Corner]

Yeah, but he was 6 or 7 years old.

 

[micropolitan guy]

Maybe he had the hots for Donna, can’t blame him, she was a hell of a good looking woman.

The prettiest spinster librarian in Bedford Falls, and it wasn't even close.

 

[qtlaw]

Every show on this thread was rewatched in syndication. It never occurred to me it was once upon a time a part of the Big Three networks' primetime* programming. My mother hipped me to that when I was nine. ("You mean they didn't make black and white shows that way on purpose?!?!?!") Being a wee thing, I was educated early on about the virtues of shoe phones and flip-top communicators. (Thanks Dad! Also, thanks for letting me sit with you while we watched Bobby Orr take flight on the little black and white TV in the kitchen.)

Shreveport and Lubbock affiliates and UHF stations kept the love and electric babysitting going with Father Knows Best, Leave It To Beaver, Gilligan's Island, Bewitched, F Troop, Bonanza, and my favorites, The Big Valley, Star Trek, Get Smart, The Man From Uncle, The Avengers, and Daktari.


*Not even a thing yet. Was it Fred Silverman who came up with that?

You forgot McHale's Navy, Marcus Welby MD, the Green Hornet, etc.

Linda Evans in Big Valley, wow.

Man I loved (and still do) Leave it to Beaver.