Werner Klemperer
After his famous father’s death in 1973, Klemperer expanded his acting career with musical roles in opera and Broadway musicals. He earned a Tony Award nomination for his performance in Cabaret. A member of the Board of Directors of the New York Chamber Symphony, Klemperer served as a narrator with many other U.S. symphony orchestras. He also made occasional guest appearances on television dramas, and took part in a few studio recordings, notably a version of Arnold Schönberg's Gurrelieder in 1979.
Werner Klemperer died from cancer on December 6, 2000, at the age of 80. His body was cremated and his ashes were scattered at sea. From 1997 until his death, Klemperer was married to African-American actress Kim Hamilton.
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Trivia
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- Between 1970 and 1978, Klemperer owned a Mercedes Benz 6.9 V8, which was initially intended for Roman Polanski. When parked on the set of Hogan's Heroes, Bob Crane always joked about it being "The Colonel's staff car".
- Was a friend off-set of Bob Crane. After Crane's murder, Werner sold his Mercedes-Benz because it brought back too many memories of his dead friend.
- Klemperer was a pole vaulter in high school. In an episode of Hogan's Heroes, Colonel Klink tried to see if he could pole vault over a fence.
- When Klemperer's father, the famous conductor, saw his first episode of Hogan's Heroes, he said to his son, "Your work is good...but who is the author of this material?"
- He was once asked by a town in California to be the Grand Marshal of its Memorial Day parade. The protests about having a "Nazi" as Marshal caused the town to disinvite him. Klemperer kindly agreed but wrote a letter to the local paper stating that as a man who had been persecuted by the Nazis as a Jew and as a WWII veteran of the U.S. Army, he felt somewhat confused at the uproar.
- He can be seen playing in the violin section of the New Philharmonia Orchestra on the EMI Classics DVD "Otto Klemperer — Beethoven Symphony No. 9." The concert was performed on November 8, 1964, at London's Royal Albert Hall.
- As Colonel Klink, he was a pretentious but dreadful violin player, in contrast with his virtuosity with the instrument in real life.
- According to the particular episode's DVD commentary, when he guested on The Simpsons, he had to be given a reminder of how to play Colonel Klink. Essentially, he imitated an imitation of the character.
- During 80's lived in the famous Sunset Towers in West Hollywood in the penthouse for many years when the building was being restored and was mostly vacant.
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References
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External links
- Werner Klemperer at Find A Grave
- Werner Klemperer at the Internet Movie Database
- Werner Klemperer at TV.com
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