'Hogan's Heroes' Actor Leon Askin Dies
By DANICA KIRKA
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Leon Askin, the actor who played Gen. Albert
Burkhalter in the 1960s television comedy "Hogan's Heroes," has died,
Austrian officials said Friday.
The actor was 97. Neither city officials nor the Vienna hospital where
he died disclosed the cause or date of his death.
Askin was best known for his role as the Nazi general who constantly
threatened to send the prisoner of war camp's inept commander, Col.
Wilhelm Klink, to the Russian front because of his stupidity.
"Beverly Hills school children would call after me, 'Klink, Klink!'"
Askin wrote on his Web site. "People driving through Beverly Hills who
saw these children raising their arms in the Hitler salute couldn't
continue out of sheer shock and amazement and brought traffic to a
standstill."
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Born Leo Aschkenasy in Vienna on Sept. 18, 1907, Askin worked as a
cabaret artist in the 1930s before fleeing first to France and then to
the United States to escape persecution by the Nazis.
He had roles in dozens of films, including Billy Wilder's "One, two,
three" and the Austrian director Fritz Lang's "Das Testament des Dr.
Mabuse." In the course of his career, he appeared opposite Elizabeth
Taylor, Richard Burton and Peter Ustinov.
Askin took up residence in Vienna in 1994, returning to his roots in
cabaret. He also took roles in Vienna's Festwochen and the city's
second opera, the Volksoper.
He was decorated with Vienna's Gold Medal of Honor, one of the most
distinguished prizes the city offers.
"We have lost a huge actor and artist and a wonderful man," Mayor
Michael Haeupl said in a statement.
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