Born - January 28, 1910
Died - January 28, 1973
John Banner is perhaps best remembered for his portrayal of the Luftwaffe
prison camp guard Sergeant Hans Schultz in the TV series "Hogan's Heroes"
(1965-1971). But there remains a certain irony: He was Jewish.
John Banner was born in Vienna on January 28, 1910. Because of his accent,
this Austrian-Jewish actor spent much of his Hollywood career playing Nazis,
starting with the propaganda drama "Seven Miles From Alcatraz" (1942).
He acted in a dozen American films---both comedies and dramas--before landing
the role of Sergeant Schultz.
In 1961, he portrayed Nazi leader Rudolf Hess in the gritty film "Operation
Eichmann," which starred future "Hogan's Heroes" colleague
Werner Klemperer. In 1968, Banner, Klemperer and Bob Crane co starred in the
Hoganesque comedy flick "The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz." John
later starred as Dean Jones' lovable, goofy Uncle Latzi in the short-lived
CBS sitcom, "The Chicago Teddy Bears" (1971).
Another bit of irony, besides John Banner being Jewish and playing a guard
in a POW camp... is that like his co-star on Hogan's Heroes, Robert Clary....
John Banner was in a concentration camp prior to his release and travel out
of Nazi Occupied Germany (in the early part of the Nazi control of Germany,
a trip to a concentration camp was not an automatic "death sentence").
So John Banner was lucky to leave just before the Nazi policies changed.
Sadly, he died of abdominal hemorrhage on his birthday in 1973 in his native
Vienna.
