Robert Clary

Robert Clary (born March 1, 1926 as Robert Max Widerman) is a French-born actor of Jewish descent. He is mainly known for his role as Corporal Louis LeBeau of the Hogan's Heroes television sitcom.

Biography
Clary was born in Paris, France, the youngest of 14 children. At the age of 12, he began singing professionally. In 1942, during the German occupation of France, Clary and 14 members of his immediate family were deported to Germany, sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp. He was the only one to survive. As he later related, his singing helped to keep him alive. When he returned to Paris, he discovered that not all members of his family had been sent to the death camps and had survived both the Nazi occupation and the war. Clary went back to singing. Discovered by Harry Bluestone, he was soon recording songs that made him popular in both France and in the United States.

In 1949, he moved to the U.S. Clary appeared on American television, which included him performing a French comedy skit on The Ed Wynn Show in 1950. He soon met Merv Griffin, who introduced him to Eddie Cantor. His meeting with the latter led to Clary getting a spot on The Colgate Comedy Hour as well as his meeting Cantor's daughter, Natalie Cantor Metzge, whom he would marry in 1965. His appearance there and at the La Vie En Rose nightclub in New York led to his appearances in several popular Broadway musicals, including New Faces of 1952 (which was later made into a movie in 1954), Seventh Heaven, Around the World in 80 Days, Irma La Douce and Cabaret. He also appeared in several Hollywood films, including The Tall Men, The Thief of Damascus, the film version of New Faces of 1952 and A New Kind of Love.

In 1965, he was cast as the French prisoner of war and cook of the Hogan's Heroes show, Corporal Louis LeBeau, which soon made him known internationally. After Hogan's Heroes, he appeared in several television soap operas, including The Young and the Restless, Day of Our Lives, and The Bold and the Beautiful, television shows like Fantasy Island and films like The Hindenburg and The Legendary Curse of the Hope Diamond.

In 1980, Clary started to talk about his experiences during the Holocaust via the Simon Wiesenthal's nationally acclaimed outreach program. Two years later he appeared in the film, Rememberance of Love, where he played himself going to a Jewish Holocaust survivors meeting in Jerusalem. He also did a documentary with PBS called Robert Clary A-5714, A Memoir of Liberation where he talked about his Holocaust experiences. In the 1990s, he made comments on his experiences during World War II for the History Channel when it was acknowledging the war's 50th Anniversary. He also hosted a cable television show. (Though his story of his survival of the Holocaust at its height was a painful one, Monsieur Clary believed he had a moral responsibility to tell it.)

In 1997, his wife, Natalie Cantor Metzge, died. Clary retired from acting in 2001. Also in 2001, he published his autobiography, From the Holocaust to Hogan's Heroes. Most recently, Monsieur Clary was supporting himself by giving lectures on his incarceration at Buchenwald and about the Holocaust in general, owing to the moral responsibility, cited above, to tell his painful story of Holocaust survival which he had become convinced he bore.

Filmography

 * The 100 Most Unexpected TV Moments (2005) (mini) (TV)
 * Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust (2004)
 * Unlikely Heroes (2003)
 * Matisse &amp; Picasso: A Gentle Rivalry (2001) (TV)
 * The Bold and the Beautiful (1990-1992) (TV)
 * Robert Clary A5714: A Memoir of Liberation (1984)
 * Remembrance of Love (1982) (TV)
 * The Hindenburg (1975)
 * The Legendary Curse of the Hope Diamond (1975) (TV)
 * The Young and the Restless (1973-1974) (TV)
 * Days of our Lives (1972-1973, 1975,1980. 1981-1983, 1986) (TV)
 * Hogan's Heroes (1965) (TV)
 * A New Kind of Love (1963)
 * New Faces of 1952 (1954)
 * Thief of Damascus (1952)
 * Ten Tall Men (1951)

Notable TV Guest Appearances

 * The E! True Hollywood Story playing "Himself" in episode: "Family Feud" 28 July 2002
 * Biography playing "Himself" in episode: "Bob Crane: Double Life" 8 February 2000
 * The Bold and the Beautiful playing "Pierre Jourdan" in episode: "Episode #1.951" (episode # 1.951) 7 January 1991
 * The New Adam-12 playing "Restaurant Owner" in episode: "Framed" (episode # 1.11) 3 December 1990
 * The Munsters Today playing "Louis Schechter" in episode: "Green Eyed Munsters" (episode # 1.16) 25 February 1989
 * Masquerade playing "Actor" in episode: "The Defectus" (episode # 1.4) 5 January 1984
 * Fantasy Island playing "Ipsy Dauphin" in episode: "Escape/Cinderella Girls" (episode # 1.3) 28 January 1978
 * Dinah! playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode dated 1 September 1977" 1 September 1977
 * The Cross-Wits playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode dated 4 October 1976" 4 October 1976
 * The Merv Griffin Show playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode dated 19 June 1974" 19 June 1974
 * Love Thy Neighbor playing "Actor" in episode: "Four for Dinner" 22 June 1973
 * The Young and the Restless playing "Pierre" in episode: "Premiere" (episode # 1.1) 26 March 1973
 * Arnie playing "Yves" in episode: "Boom or Bust" (episode # 2.14) 1 January 1972
 * The Mike Douglas Show playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode dated 6 July 1971" 6 July 1971
 * Playboy After Dark playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode #2.16" (episode # 2.16) 12 May 1970
 * The Leslie Uggams Show playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode dated 12 October 1969" 12 October 1969
 * Love, American Style playing "Maurice" in episode: "Love and the Letter" (episode # 1.2b) 6 October 1969
 * Pantomime Quiz playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode dated 29 September 1969" 29 September 1969
 * Della playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode 1.11" (episode # 1.11) 23 June 1969
 * The High Chaparral playing "Lucien Charot" in episode: "The Last Hundred Miles" (episode # 2.17) 24 January 1969
 * The Joey Bishop Show playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode #2.32" (episode # 2.32) 3 November 1967
 * The Mike Douglas Show playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode #5.202" (episode # 5.202) 13 June 1967
 * Everybody's Talking playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode dated 5 June 1967" 5 June 1967
 * The Linkletter Show playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode dated 25 April 1967" 26 April 1957
 * The Hollywood Squares playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode #1.103" (episode # 1.103) 10 March 1967
 * The Hollywood Squares playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode #1.102" (episode # 1.102) 9 March 1967
 * The Hollywood Squares playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode #1.101" (episode # 1.101) 8 March 1967
 * The Hollywood Squares playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode #1.100" (episode # 1.100) 7 March 1967
 * The Hollywood Squares playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode #1.99" (episode # 1.99) 6 March 1967
 * Gypsy playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode dated 18 January 1967" 18 January 1967
 * The Pat Boone Show playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode dated 12 January 1967" 12 January 1967
 * The Pat Boone Show playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode dated 11 January 1967" 11 January 1967
 * The Hollywood Palace playing "Himself - Singer" in episode: "Episode #3.13" (episode # 3.13) 25 December 1965
 * Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre playing "Marcel Pleusteau" in episode: "Mr. Governess" (episode # 3.6) 10 November 1965
 * Pantomime Quiz playing "Himself-Regular Panelist" in episode: "Episode dated 22 April 1963" 22 April 1963
 * Pantomime Quiz playing "Himself-Regular Panelist" in episode: "Episode dated 15 April 1963" 15 April 1963
 * Pantomime Quiz playing "Himself-Regular Panelist" in episode: "Nina Foch vs. Michael Landon" 25 February 1963
 * Pantomime Quiz playing "Himself-Regular Panelist" in episode: "Sheila MacRae vs. Gordon MacRae" 18 February 1963
 * Pantomime Quiz playing "Himself-Guest Panelist" in episode: "Eartha Kitt vs. Robert Clary" 21 January 1963
 * The Merv Griffin Show playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode #1.53" (episode # 1.53) 18 December 1962
 * The Merv Griffin Show playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode #1.17" (episode # 1.17) 26 October 1962
 * Play of the Week playing "Actor" in episode: "Highlights of New Faces" (episode # 2.10) 28 November 1960
 * The Big Party playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode #1.6" (episode # 1.6) 31 December 1959
 * The Garry Moore Show playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode #1.4" (episode # 1.4)21 October 1958
 * The Lux Show playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode dated 20 February 1958" 20 February 1958
 * The Gisele MacKenzie Show playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode #1.8" (episode # 1.8) 8 February 1958
 * Club 60 playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode dated 18 November 1957" 18 November 1957
 * The Spike Jones Show playing "Himself" in episode: "Big Bands" (episode # 1.7) 14 May 1957
 * The Rosemary Clooney Show playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode #1.5" (episode # 1.5) 19 June 1956
 * Appointment with Adventure playing "Actor" in episode: "Masquerade" (episode # 1.22) 28 August 1955
 * The Martha Raye Show playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode #2.2" (episode # 2.2) 26 October 1954
 * The Blue Angel playing "Himself" in episode: "Episode #1.5" (episode # 1.5) 3 August 1954
 * The Colgate Comedy Hour playing "Himself-Singer" in episode: "Episode #2.21" (episode # 2.21) 20 January 1952
 * The Ed Wynn Show playing "Himself-Singer" in episode: "Episode #1.19" (episode 1.19) 28 January 1950

Soundtrack

 * New Faces (1954) (performer: "Lucky Pierre", "Love Is a Simple Thing", "Alouette", "Raining Memories", "I'm in Love with Miss Logan", "Bal Petit Bal")