In Memoriam: LEON ASKIN (1907-2005)

[AaronHandy3]

Here we go again...


"I will send you to the Russian front!"

That was the threat made by General Burkhalter to Colonel Klink on many episodes of Hogan's Heroes.

Hollywood character actor Leon Askin, whose decades-long career included portraying Burkhalter in the 1960s sitcom, died Friday at a hospital in his native Vienna. He was 97. The cause of his death was not disclosed.

Like Werner Klemperer, who played Klink, and John Banner, who appeared as Sergeant Schultz, Askin was a Jewish refugee from the Nazis.

Askin appeared in over 50 films, as well as in theater and TV. He supplied various voices for two 1982 TV series: Hanna-Barbera's Scooby and Scrappy-Doo and Ruby-Spears Productions' Puppy's New Adventure.

The son of a salesman, he was born Leo Aschkenasy on September 18, 1907, which coincided with Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. When he was nine years old, he recited a 17-stanza eulogy for Emperor Francis Joseph in front of the city hall of Vienna's ninth district.

Askin was the student of dramatists Max Reinhardt and Louise Dumont. In the 1930s, Askin was a cabaret performer and directed the political cabaret ABC, discovering Jura Soyfer.

In order to escape Nazi persecution, he fled first to France, then to the United States. He met Erwin Piscator, the founder of the school of Epic Realism, in 1938, and worked with him for the next three decades. During the Second World War, he served in the U.S. Army.

During the Second World War, Askin's parents (including his blind mother) were taken to the ghetto/concentration camp of Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia, which was run by the SS. They were later murdered at the concentration camp in Lublin, Poland.

Often portraying the "funny villain," Askin performed alongside such luminaries as James Cagney, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Doris Day and Peter Ustinov. "Here comes my professional!", director Billy Wilder exclaimed on the set of his 1961 movie One, Two, Three, in which Askin portrayed Peripetchikoff.

Live-action work for Disney included a guest appearance as Anton Rubinstein in "The Peter Tschaikovsky Story," a 1959 episode of Disneyland, and the role of Dr. Gottlieb in the 1973 feature film The World's Greatest Athlete (1973).

In the 1952 Bing Crosby-Bob Hope comedy Road to Bali, Askin made an early film appearance as Ramayana. Among the other movies where he was a character actor -- comedic or dramatic -- were The Robe (1953, as Abidor), director Fritz Lang's Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse (1962, as Flocke), What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966, as Col. Kastorp), Hammersmith Is Out (1972, as Dr. Krodt) and Airplane II: The Sequel (1982, as the Moscow anchorman).

Besides Hogan's Heroes, he was a regular on 1956's The Charles Farrell Show (as Pierre the Chef). Guest appearances included the 1950s series Adventures of Superman, in which he appeared as Joseph Ferdinand and Prime Minister Vallen. He was Peter Minuit and Von Reinbein in two episodes of the mid-1960s comedy My Favorite Martian, and Marvin Elom and Machina in two episodes of the spy series The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

He impersonated both Karl Marx and Martin Luther in various episodes of PBS's Meeting of Minds.

His stage performances included Faust and Shylock on Broadway, which he also directed, and Othello in Hamburg.

Unlike many expatriates, Askin returned to Austria in 1994, where he continued his film, TV and stage career, receiving several honors. Earlier, during the postwar years, he had appeared in numerous Austrian and West German movies and TV productions.

His autobiography, Quietude and Quest (written with C. Melvin Davidson), was published by Ariadne Press in 1989.


To Monkee fans, Askin is remembered for his role as Nikolai, Druvanian National Ballet coach/master spy, from Season-2 Monkees episode “The Card-Carrying Red Shoes.”

Once yet again, to absent friends...