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Robert Clary

Robert Clary was a French-born actor of Jewish descent. Clary was the youngest of 14 children. At the age of 12, he began a career singing professionally. In 1942, he was deported to the Nazi concentration camp, Buchenwald with 14 other members of his immediate family. Clary was the only survivor. When he returned to Paris after the war, he was ecstatic when he found that some of his siblings had not been taken away and survived the Nazi occupation of France.

Clary returned to the entertainment business and began making songs that not only became popular in France, but in America as well. He came to the United States in October 1949. One of Clary's first American stints was a French language comedy skit on The Ed Wynn Show in 1950. Clary later met Merv Griffin and Eddie Cantor. This eventually led to Clary meeting Cantor's daughter, Natalie Cantor Metzge (whom he later married in 1965). Cantor later got Clary a spot on the Colgate Comedy Hour. His comedic skills were quickly recognized by Broadway, where he appeared in several popular musicals including New Faces of 1952 (which was later produced as a film in 1954).

In 1965, Clary obtained the role that would give him international fame. He was to play Corporal Louis LeBeau on a new series called Hogan's Heroes. He later went on to fully accept the role when the pilot sold and the rest is history.

After his stint on Heroes, Clary appeared in a handful of feature films with World War II themes including the made-for-television film, Remembrance of Love (1982) about the Holocaust. Clary also made notable appearances on Days of Our Lives and The Young and the Restless. In 1997, Clary's wife sadly passed away. He would later retire from acting in 2001 when he published his autobiography From the Holocaust to Hogan's Heroes. He currently gives lectures today on his incarceration at Buchenwald and the Holocaust in general.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2005.

Robert Clary Facts

Birth NameRobert Max Widerman
OccupationActor
BirthdayMarch 1, 1926 (98)
SignPisces
BirthplaceParis, France

Selected Filmography

Hogan's Heroes: The Complete Series
Transporter 2
Hogan's Heroes
A New Kind of Love
The Hindenburg
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