TWO FOR TUESDAY I - "HOGAN'S HEROES"

Nobody expects an actor to look exactly like the famous person whom they’re portraying in some TV production.  I was reminded of this in the last two weeks with the death of H. Ross Perot – in a TV movie, “On The Wings Of Eagles”, Perot was played by Richard Crenna.  You can see in this promo picture how great the contrast was.

Another example was Judith Light playing tlitthe mother of Ryan White in a TV movie about that little boy and his ordeal with AIDS and the antagonism against him through no fault of his own.

In the last two decades, there have been behind-the-scenes docudramas about the making of various TV shows – ‘Dynasty’, ‘Mork & Mindy’, ‘Gilligan’s Island’, ‘Three’s Company’, and ‘Steptoe & Son’.

And it continues today with mini-series about Einstein, Picasso, Versace, Bette Davis & Joan Crawford, and most recently Bob Fosse & Gwen Verdon.

So it’s not really that far out of the realm of possibility that one day a docu-drama might be made about the production of ‘Hogan’s Heroes’.

From Wikipedia:
‘Hogan's Heroes’ is an American television sitcom set in a German prisoner of war (POW) camp during World War II. It ran for 168 episodes from September 17, 1965, to April 4, 1971, on the CBS network. 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 incompetent commandant of the camp, and John Banner played the bungling but lovable sergeant-of-the-guard, Sergeant Hans Schultz. 
Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski, the writers of the 1951 play “Stalag 17”, a World War II prisoner-of-war story turned into a 1953 feature film by Paramount Pictures, sued Bing Crosby Productions, the show's producer, for infringement. Their lawsuit was unsuccessful. While the jury found in favor of the plaintiffs, the federal judge overruled them. The judge found "striking difference in the dramatic mood of the two works."

So there would be a few subplots that might have been worked into the plotline, depending on whether the project would be a TV movie or a mini-series.
But definitely I think Werner Klemperer should be a focus in the story, perhaps even more so than Bob Crane’s womanizing.  (Ah, who am I kidding?  The ratings rule!)  However, look at this Wikipedia entry:

Werner Klemperer as Colonel Klink, the commandant of the POW camp.
He is painfully unaware of the men's operation and believes the camp has a perfect escape record under his command. Klemperer was from a Jewish family in real life (his father was the famous orchestral conductor Otto Klemperer) and found the role to be a "double-edged sword"; his agent failed to tell him the role was intended to be comedic. Klemperer remarked, "I had one qualification when I took the job: if they ever wrote a segment whereby Colonel Klink would come out the hero, I would leave the show."
He defended his playing a Luftwaffe Officer by claiming, "I am an actor. If I can play Richard III, I can play a Nazi."

‘Hogan's Heroes’ won two Emmy Awards out of twelve nominations. Both wins were for Werner Klemperer as outstanding supporting actor in a comedy, in 1968 and 1969. Klemperer received nominations in the same category in 1966, 1967 and 1970.

Now, as to who should play the role?  I have the perfect actor – Andrew Musselmans.  He’s a Canadian actor whom I saw in an episode of ‘Murdoch Mysteries’ earlier this year.

Doesn’t he look perfect for the role?

BCnU!