
Leon Askin
Acting
Biography
Leon Askin (Born: September 18, 1907, Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria), Height 6ft [1.83m]) was an Austrian-American actor who enjoyed a successful career in both theater and television. He is best known for his portrayal of General Albert Burkhalter in the hit sitcom "Hogan's Heroes," a role he played for six seasons from 1965 to 1971. Born Leo Aschkenasy in Vienna, Austria, in 1907, Askin developed an interest in acting at a young age. He studied at the Max Reinhardt Seminar, a prestigious acting school in Vienna, and began his career on the stage in the early 1930s. With the rise of the Nazi regime in Germany, Askin, a Jew, was forced to flee Austria in 1938. He emigrated to the United States, where he continued to work in theater. He also began appearing in films and television shows, often playing villainous roles due to his imposing stature and commanding presence. Askin's most famous role came in 1965 when he was cast as General Burkhalter in "Hogan's Heroes." The show, which chronicled the exploits of a group of American prisoners of war running a secret operation from a German POW camp, was a huge success, and Askin became a household name. After "Hogan's Heroes" ended in 1971, Askin continued to work steadily in television and film. He appeared in numerous guest roles on popular shows such as "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "The Rockford Files," and "Murder, She Wrote." He also had recurring roles on the soap operas "General Hospital" and "Santa Barbara." Askin's film credits include such movies as "The Dirty Dozen," "The Night of the Generals," and "The Boys from Brazil." He also continued to work in theater throughout his career, appearing in both Broadway and off-Broadway productions. Askin remained active in acting well into his later years. He published an autobiography, "Quietude and Quest: Protagonists and Antagonists in the Theatre, on and Off Stage as Seen Through the Eyes of Leon Askin," in 1997. He also received numerous awards for his work, including the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art in 1988 and the Silver Cross of Honor in 1994. Askin died in Vienna in 2005 at the age of 97. He is remembered as one of the most versatile and talented actors of his generation.
Known For

Mission: Impossible is an American television series that was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicles the missions of a team of secret government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force. In the first season, the team is led by Dan Briggs, played by Steven Hill; Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, takes charge for the remaining seasons. A hallmark of the series shows Briggs or Phelps receiving his instructions on a recording that then self-destructs, followed by the theme music composed by Lalo Schifrin. The series aired on the CBS network from September 1966 to March 1973, then returned to television for two seasons on ABC, from 1988 to 1990, retaining only Graves in the cast. It later inspired a popular series of theatrical motion pictures starring Tom Cruise, beginning in 1996.
Mission: Impossible

Hogan's Heroes is an American television sitcom that ran for 168 episodes from September 17, 1965, to July 4, 1971, on the CBS network. The show was set in a German prisoner of war camp during World War II. Bob Crane starred as Colonel Robert E. Hogan, coordinating an international crew of Allied prisoners running a Special Operations group from the camp. Werner Klemperer played Colonel Wilhelm Klink, the commandant of the camp, and John Banner was the inept sergeant-of-the-guard, Hans Schultz. The series was popular during its six-season run. In 2013, creators Bernard Fein through his estate and Albert S. Ruddy acquired the sequel and other separate rights to Hogan's Heroes from Mark Cuban through arbitration and a movie based on the show has been planned.
Hogan's Heroes
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Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre

In 1950s Milwaukee the Cunningham family must contend with Fonzie, a motorcycle riding Casanova.
Happy Days

The F.B.I. is an American television series that was broadcast on ABC from 1965 to 1974. It was sponsored by the Ford Motor Company, and the characters almost always drove Ford vehicles in the series. Alcoa was co-sponsor of Season One only.
The F.B.I.

Daniel Boone is an American action-adventure television series starring Fess Parker as Daniel Boone that aired from September 24, 1964 to September 10, 1970 on NBC for 165 episodes, and was made by 20th Century Fox Television. Ed Ames co-starred as Mingo, Boone's Cherokee friend, for the first four seasons of the series. Albert Salmi portrayed Boone's companion Yadkin in season one only. Dallas McKennon portrayed innkeeper Cincinnatus. Country Western singer-actor Jimmy Dean was a featured actor as Josh Clements during the 1968–1970 seasons. Actor and former NFL football player Rosey Grier made regular appearances as Gabe Cooper in the 1969 to 1970 season. The show was broadcast "in living color" beginning in fall 1965, the second season, and was shot entirely in California and Kanab, Utah.
Daniel Boone

Matinee Theater is an American anthology series that aired on NBC during the Golden Age of Television, from 1955 to 1958. The series, which ran daily in the afternoon, was frequently live. It was produced by Albert McCleery, Darrell Ross, George Cahan and Frank Price with executive producer George Lowther. McCleery had previously produced the live series Cameo Theatre which introduced to television the concept of theater-in-the-round, TV plays staged with minimal sets. Jim Buckley of the Pewter Plough Playhouse recalled: When Al McCleery got back to the States, he originated a most ambitious theatrical TV series for NBC called Matinee Theater: to televise five different stage plays per week live, airing around noon in order to promote color TV to the American housewife as she labored over her ironing. Al was the producer. He hired five directors and five art directors. Richard Bennett, one of our first early presidents of the Pewter Plough Corporation, was one of the directors and I was one of the art directors and, as soon as we were through televising one play, we had lunch and then met to plan next week’s show. That was over 50 years ago, and I’m trying to think; I believe the TV art director is his own set decorator —yes, of course! It had to be, since one of McCleery’s chief claims to favor with the producers was his elimination of the setting per se and simply decorating the scene with a minimum of props. It took a bit of ingenuity.
Matinee Theater

When two single girls, Janet and Chrissy, need a roommate to share their Santa Monica apartment, they decide to offer a room to Jack, a man they find passed out in the bathtub after the going-away party for their last roommate. However, hijinks ensure when Jack must pretend to be gay in order to throw off the scent of the trio's conservative landlady.
Three's Company

The Outer Limits is an anthology tv series of self-contained sci-fi-horror stories, sometimes with a plot twist at the end.
The Outer Limits

After his handler is killed, police dog Rex teams up with recently-divorced inspector Richard Moser to investigate crimes and solve mysteries on the streets of Vienna. And they sometimes get help from their two-legged friend, Inspector Stockinger.
Inspector Rex

Switch is an American action-adventure, tongue-in-cheek detective series starring Eddie Albert and Robert Wagner, who work as private eyes, for a deceptive sting operation. It was broadcast on the CBS network for three seasons between September 9, 1975 and August 20, 1978, bumping the Hawaii Five-O detective series to Friday nights.
Switch

Micky, Mike, Peter, and Davy are four young men in mid-1960s LA, members of a struggling country-folk-rock band looking for their big break amid madcap encounters with a variety of people straight out of TV and movie central casting, with full knowledge that their existence is part of a weekly television series.
The Monkees

Agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin work for a secret intelligence service working under the auspices of the U.N. Their immediate superior is Mr. Waverly. Together they operate out of a secret base beneath the streets of New York City, and accesses through several cover business such as Del Floria's Tailor Shop and the Masque Club. This secret intelligence service is called U.N.C.L.E. United Network Command for Law and Enforcement.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a syndicated TV adaptation of the beloved DC Comics superhero! You know the drill: When he isn't fighting for truth, justice and the American way, the man in tights dons a suit and glasses for his secret identity as Daily Planet newspaper reporter Clark Kent, who works alongside friends Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen for gruff boss Perry White.
Adventures of Superman

Studio 57 is an American anthology series that was broadcast on the now-defunct DuMont Television Network from September 1954 to September 1955, and in syndication from 1955 to 1956.
Studio 57

The 20th Century Fox Hour is an American drama anthology series televised in the United States on CBS from 1955 to 1957. Some of the shows in this series were restored, remastered and shown on the Fox Movie Channel in 2002 under the title Hour of Stars. The season one episode Overnight Haul, starring Richard Conte and Lizabeth Scott, was released in Australia as a feature film.
The 20th Century Fox Hour

Twenty-year veteran Detective Sergeant Sam Stone is paired with rookie Briggs in a large Western metropolis.
Felony Squad

Telephone Time is an American anthology drama series that aired on CBS in 1956, and on ABC from 1957 to 1958. The series features plays by John Nesbitt who hosted the first season. Frank C. Baxter hosted the 1957 and 1958 seasons. The program was directed by Arthur Hiller.
Telephone Time
Lux Video Theatre is an American anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays.
Lux Video Theatre

After her father's death, Honey West takes over his high-tech private-detective firm, assisted by rugged Sam Bolt--and her pet ocelot Bruce.