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Old October 13th, 2018 #1
James T Kirk
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Default The Nazis And The Actors Who Played Them In The 1960's Television Show..."COMBAT!"

The American TV series "COMBAT!" ran for five seasons, and was a very successful show when it ran on ABC back in the 1960's. Well-acted, with excellent scripts and background music, it attracted many of the best TV stars of that era, among them James Caan, Robert Duvall, James Coburn, and many others. At least two of its guest stars went on to win Academy Awards in motion pictures. It also did something that most World War II based movies did not do at that time by having its German soldiers speak almost exclusively in German, with an occasional one able to speak English as well. In the episode, "Cry For Help", guest star Robert Duvall played a German medic who spoke German, English, and French.

Made some twenty years after the end of World War II, it was not unexpected that it would be biased toward the American point of view, portraying the Germans, for the most part, as thoroughly villainous. But occasionally it showed the war from the German point of view, which lent another texture of realism to the show.

And now we will use this thread to post "The Nazis of "COMBAT!" and the actors who portrayed them. We'll begin with Robert Duvall, and move on from there. Others are free to comment and/or post their photos and comments as well...


Robert Duvall as a captured German explosives expert in "COMBAT!"






Robert Duvall years later as Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Duvall, who has blue eyes, even
went so far as to wear brown contact lenses in order to historically match those of Lee


 
Old October 14th, 2018 #2
James T Kirk
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Most people (if they know him at all) know Richard Basehart as "Admiral Harriman Nelson" of the 60's TV series, Voyage To The Bottom of the Sea. But before Basehart signed on to the USS Seaview, he led another life as the commandant of a prisoner-of-war camp....

Richard Basehart as "Admiral Harriman Nelson" of the futuristic submarine, Seaview



Richard Basehart (left) as "SS Captain Steiner" in COMBAT!



Richard Basehart also played none other than Adolf Hitler in the movie, Hitler, made in 1962:

 
Old October 15th, 2018 #3
James T Kirk
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Actor James Coburn playing a German infiltrator disguised as an American GI in the COMBAT! episode, "Masquerade". One of the better episodes, with Coburn (trying to sound like an American) using one phrase of American slang over and over again - that phrase being "hubba hubba".

 
Old October 19th, 2018 #4
James T Kirk
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Acadamy Award winner Lee Marvin in the COMBAT! episode, "The Bridge at Chalons"


 
Old October 19th, 2018 #5
steven clark
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Default The Nazis and The Actors Who Played Them In The 1960's Television Show..."COMBAT!"

I remember Combat very well. In fifth grade, we kids played it at recess, each taking on a character. Since I was tall, I was Brock.
There was a plethora of WWII series then, due to The Longest Day. The Gallant Men was another, done by Warner Brothers about GIs in Italy. It was a bit cheesier, since Warners used lots of clips from old recycled war movies, fewer guest stars, etc. I would watch old 50's war movies on TV, and a week later, see a clip from a movie on The Gallant Men.

There was also McHale's Navy and Hogan's Heroes. I thought they were both kind of dumb. Like someone said, most Americans get their ideas of Germany and WWII from Hogan's Heroes. And it will be on forever.

There was also Twelve O'Clock High. Somehow, WWII in the Pacific never got covered...except for McHale's Navy...and in their last season they went to Italy. (A PT boat assigned in Italy?) Also, it bequeathed Tim Conway, one of the unfunniest people I've ever seen, although Carol Burnett really liked him.

As for Richard Basehart, he was actually in a lot of high class films in the fifties, and on Naked City, etc. He also played Ismael in John Huston's Moby Dick. Good stuff before the sixties.

I don't really like Combat, and when I was a kid, I always rooted for the Germans. The stories are always the same...the brave squad (no more then a squad...the budget allows only so many actors) wipe out at least fifteen Germans, while maybe the guest star gets offed. B.S. Also, the time frame covers no more then six months in history (the Normandy/French war). Did they ever get into Germany? I don't remember, but the series went on year after year. Like MASH. Six year longer then the Korean War, f'r crissakes.
It's the standard TV fare, and I can do with out it. HBO's The Pacific was more realistic in terms of actual warfare.

There was another TV show, The Rat Patrol. It was about GIs fighting the desert war (with a token Brit), and got a lot complaints from British vets, since 'Desert Rats' never referred to Americans...actually, not the British. They were mostly Aussies, and there was sounding out how Americans always made it seem like they won the war singlehandedly.

The 'Rat's' nemesis was Steiner, played by Hans Gudegast. I always liked him, and he was always decent and competent. The actor was supposed to wear an eye patch, but refused to do so. He had trouble getting cast since he was German, but did some good acting in Colossus: The Forbin Project, and changed his name to Eric Braeden, and has been on The Young and the Restless forever. Still looks very handsome, as Germans have that kind of noble dignity.

Back to Hogan's Heroes, a lot of complaints came because it tried to see humor in a POW camp, but again...how the Americans were always these clever geniuses who always outwitted the Nazis. Also, Werner Klemperer, who played Klink, was Jewish, and insisted his character must never, ever, win, and always has to be stupid.
Also amazing how Hogan escaped every other week to London for briefings...but fantasy TV was the 60's thing, like Bewitched, etc.

I understand the series finally made it to German TV, and Klink was dubbed to sound even stupider to Germans. Jews just don't give up, do they?
 
Old October 20th, 2018 #6
Ray Allan
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That's funny because I watched Hogan's Heroes on MeTV this evening. Below is a video from tonight's episode, 'The Witness' where Col. Hogan and his men must sabotage a V-2 rocket. As a kid, this show was my first exposure to WW2, and even my grandfather who was in the war, thought Hogan's Heroes was hilarious. He detested M*A*S*H however, otherwise known as The Alan Alda Political Hour. I asked my grandpa if WW2 was like Hogan's Heroes, and he said no, most Germans he encountered were a lot smarter than Col. Klink and Sgt. Schultz. True, the actors playing most of the German characters were jews, and the whole show was total fantasy and ridiculous, but I still get a laugh from it, because watching it reminds me of fun times from my childhood. Schultz's "I see nothing, nothing!" and Hochstetter's "What is this man doing here??" is still funny after all these years.


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Old October 21st, 2018 #7
James T Kirk
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Quote:
There was another TV show, The Rat Patrol. It was about GIs fighting the desert war... The 'Rat's' nemesis was Steiner, played by Hans Gudegast.
"The Rat Patrol's" Eric Braeden, who early in his acting career went by his real name: Hans Gudegast.
Here he is in the COMBAT! episode, "The Hostages" (right). He was born in Kiel, Germany.




Eric (Hans Gudegast) Braeden as he appeared two years later in his regular role on "The Rat Patrol":



In the photo collage of "The Rat Patrol" (above) the image in the upper left corner shows the crenelated walls
of a "German desert outpost". This same Hollywood set also served as the "outpost"on Cestus III
in this other TV series of the same period:


 
Old October 22nd, 2018 #8
James T Kirk
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Yet another actor (after Robert Duvall, Lee Marvin, & James Coburn) who went on to make
it big in motion pictures after guest starring in COMBAT! In fact, this actor's movies went
on to become the biggest box office money makers in the world for five years running.
Here he is in the COMBAT! episode, "Heritage":






Charles Bronson in The Twilight Zone episode, "Two", a post-World
War III story co-starring Elizabeth "Bewitched" Montgomery:




And Bronson in one of his most famous early movie roles. He's located dead center in the
line of seven gunfighters. One other actor in the line-up (James Coburn, far right) also
appeared in COMBAT!




Years after The Magnificent Seven was shot (1960) actor Yul Brenner appeared in the sci-fi film,
"Westworld", wearing the same gunfighter outfit he'd worn from years before:




"Westworld" - (1973)
 
Old October 23rd, 2018 #9
Ray Allan
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Don't forget Charlie Bronson as Danny the Tunnel King in The Great Escape.

__________________
"Military men are dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns for foreign policy."

--Henry A. Kissinger, jewish politician and advisor
 
Old October 23rd, 2018 #10
James T Kirk
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Quote:
Don't forget Charlie Bronson as Danny the Tunnel King in The Great Escape.
One of my favorite WWII movies, apparently based (partly) on a true story.

In the video clip, toward the end, you'll see a man in a bluish-gray sweater glancing out the window who's standing just to the right of white-sweatered James Garner. That actor's name is Lawrence Montaigne. But you might know him better from these two TV appearances he made a couple of years after he made, "The Great Escape":



Lawrence "The Great Escape" Montaigne (forefront) in Star Trek episode, "Balance of Terror"



Lawrence "The Great Escape" Montaigne (far left) in Star Trek episode, "Amok Time"

But back to COMBAT!

Actor Jan Merlin never became a household name, but if you watched 60's TV shows like "Mannix", "Barnaby Jones", and others of that period, sooner or later you would have seen him - almost always as a bad guy.



Jan Merlin (far right) playing a Nazi sniper who single-handedly hunts
Sgt. Saunders and his men in order to exact revenge


***Note to Ray Allan: how long does it usually take to get off moderation?
As it stands, I often don't see my posts for about two days after posting them.
 
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