Monday, June 09, 2008

"I know NUT-ting!"


This is Sgt. Schultz.
I have decided to appoint him in charge of my Q&A department.
Please refer all questions to him concerning recent cases currently under investigation by the Gaston County Police.
I'm sure he can answer your questions every bit as well as I can.
Thank you for your interest.
Wild Bill
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About John Banner
Jan 28, 1910 - Jan 28, 1973
Born in Vienna, Austria, of a Jewish family, Banner was able to escape his homeland before Nazis began exterminating Jewish people.
In 1938 he went to Switzerland, where he joined an acting troupe, before coming to the United States later that year. At that time he weighed 180 lbs.
His Austrian accent and Germanic features got him typecast to play Nazi soldiers during WWII. It is ironic that he survived the war years playing the villains who were murdering his remaining family members back home.
Said Banner, "Who better to play Nazis than we Jews?"

By the 1950s, John Banner weighed 280 lbs. His roly-poly figure helped him get more roles. He had played in dozens of films, but never got to be a main character until 1965, when he was cast as Sgt. Schultz in 'Hogan's Heroes.' This is the character he is best remembered as.
'Hogan's Heroes' ran from 1965 to 1971.
Banner died of abdominal hemorrhage on his birthday in 1973, at the age of 63, having returned to live in his native Vienna. He is buried in Mauer in Liesing.

The murder of his former co-star, Bob Crane, who played Col. Hogan, remains an unsolved case.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You crazy guy, you...