Robert Clary (born Robert Max Widerman; March 1, 1926 – November 16, 2022) was a French actor who was mainly active in the United States. He is best known for his role as Corporal Louis LeBeau on the television sitcom Hogan's Heroes (1965–1971). He also had recurring roles on the soap operas Days of Our Lives (1972–1987), and The Bold and the Beautiful (1990–1992).

Early life and Holocaust survival

Born in 1926 in Paris, France, Clary was the youngest of 14 children, 7 of whom died in the Holocaust. His parents, Baila and Moishe Widerman, were Polish Jewish immigrants. At age 12, he began a singing career at cabarets, French radio and also studied art in Paris. At 16, he was singing at a cabaret in Normandy when the war started. With no where else to go, he returned with his family to Paris.

In 1942, he and his Jewish family were deported to the Nazi concentration camp at Ottmuth, in Upper Silesia (now Otmęt, Poland). At a train stop, he got out of the cattle car, found a tin can and began passing water to those still inside. For this, he was considered capable of work, and was tattooed with the identification "A5714" on his left forearm. Later he was sent to Buchenwald concentration camp.

Writing about his experience, Clary said:

<blockquote>

We were not even human beings. When we got to Buchenwald, the SS shoved us into a shower room to spend the night. I had heard the rumours about the dummy shower heads that were gas jets. I thought, 'This is it.' But no, it was just a place to sleep. The first eight days there, the Germans kept us without a crumb to eat. We were hanging on to life by pure guts, sleeping on top of each other, every morning waking up to find a new corpse next to you.&nbsp;... The whole experience was a complete nightmare&nbsp;— the way they treated us, what we had to do to survive. We were less than animals. Sometimes I dream about those days. I wake up in a sweat terrified for fear I'm about to be sent away to a concentration camp, but I don't hold a grudge because that's a great waste of time. Yes, there's something dark in the human soul. For the most part, human beings are not very nice. That's why when you find those who are, you cherish them.

</blockquote>

Clary was liberated from Buchenwald on April 11, 1945. Twelve other members of his immediate family had been sent to Auschwitz concentration camp; Clary was the only survivor. When he returned to Paris after World War II, he reunited with six of his thirteen siblings and half-siblings and several nieces and nephews who had avoided being taken away and survived the Nazi occupation of France.

Career

thumb|left|upright|Clary , as a [[Capitol Records|Capitol recording artist]]

Clary returned to the entertainment business and began singing songs that became popular not only in France, but in the United States as well. The play ran for two weeks at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry. Although The Stage panned the play, it praised Clary for portraying Lautrec "with a delicacy and yet moving intenseness."

LeBeau on Hogan's Heroes

thumb|As LeBeau in Hogan's Heroes with Fräulein Helga ([[Cynthia Lynn)]]

In 1965, the diminutive 155&nbsp;cm (5&nbsp;ft 1 in) Clary was offered the role of Corporal Louis LeBeau on a new television sitcom called Hogan's Heroes, and he accepted the role when the pilot sold. The series was set in a German prisoner of war (POW) camp during World War II, and Clary played a French POW who was a member of an Allied sabotage unit operating from inside the camp.

Clary published a memoir, From the Holocaust to Hogan's Heroes: The Autobiography of Robert Clary, in 2001.

Television

  • Hogan's Heroes (1965–1971)&nbsp;— Corporal Louis LeBeau
  • The High Chaparral (1967–1971)&nbsp;— Lucien Chariot
  • Days of Our Lives (1972–1973, 1975–1983, 1986–1987)&nbsp;— Robert LeClair
  • The Young and the Restless (1973–1974)&nbsp;— Pierre Roulland
  • Fantasy Island (1978)&nbsp;— Ipsy Dauphin in "Escape/Cinderella girls"
  • The Bold and the Beautiful (1990–1992)&nbsp;— Pierre Jourdan

References

  • Interview with Clary about his experiences being arrested by the Germans during World War II&nbsp;— filmed when the C-SPAN School Bus visited the Simon Wiesenthal Center Library & Archives, aired February 9, 1999
  • Robert Clary's Holocaust experience (USC Shoah Foundation, taped 1994, 2 hrs.)
  • Interview March, 2016 The Spectrum
  • Clary explaining that his Jewish religious carried him thru the Holocaust