Werner Klemperer

Werner Klemperer
Klemperer in December 1998
Born	(1920-03-22)March 22, 1920 Cologne, Germany
Died	December 6, 2000(2000-12-06) (aged 80) Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
Cause of death	Cancer
Occupation	Actor, musician
Years active	1947–1995
Spouse(s)	Susan Dempsay (m. 1959–1968; divorced) Louise Troy (m. 1969–1975; divorced) Kim Hamilton (m. 1997–2000; his death)
Children	2
Parent(s)	Otto Klemperer Johanna Geisler ()

Werner Klemperer (March 22, 1920 – December 6, 2000) was a German-American stage, film, and television actor and singer/musician.

Born in Cologne, Rhine Province, Germany, Klemperer and his family fled Germany in 1935. After serving in the United States Army during World War II, he began his professional acting career on the Broadway stage in 1947. Klemperer appeared in several films and numerous guest starring roles during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1965, he won the role of Colonel Wilhelm Klink on the CBS television sitcom Hogan's Heroes. The series aired for six seasons with Klemperer receiving a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series nomination for each year, winning the award in 1968 and 1969.

Klemperer was born in Cologne, Germany, to a musical family. His father was renowned conductor Otto Klemperer and his mother was soprano Johanna Geisler (). He had a younger sister named Lotte (1923–2003). His father was Jewish who converted to Catholicism but later converted back to Judaism; his mother was Lutheran.

The Klemperer family emigrated to the United States in 1935, settling in Los Angeles, where Otto Klemperer took up work as a conductor. Werner Klemperer began acting in high school and enrolled in acting courses at the Pasadena Playhouse before joining the United States Army to serve in World War II. While stationed in Hawaii, he joined the Army's Special Services unit, spending the next years touring the Pacific entertaining the troops. At the war's end, he performed on Broadway before moving into television acting.