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last wk.

Kenneth Washington, Last Surviving Hogan’s Heroes Star, Dies at 88

Washington was a trailblazer for Black actors on network television who later shaped future storytellers as a professor at Loyola Marymount University

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LOS ANGELES - JUNE 24: HOGAN'S HEROES episode 'The Experts'. Featuring (from left) Bob Crane as Col. Robert E. Hogan, Robert Clary as Cpl. Louis LeBeau, Kenneth Washington stars as Sgt. Richard Baker, Larry Hovis as Sgt. Andrew Carter and Richard Dawson as Cpl. Peter Newkirk. Image dated June 24, 1970. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)
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Overview

  • Washington died on July 18 at age 88, with obituaries recognizing him as the final living member of Hogan’s Heroes’ main cast.
  • In the late 1960s, he held a recurring role as Officer Miller on Adam-12 and made guest appearances on Star Trek, My Three Sons and other prime-time series before starring in the sci-fi film Westworld.
  • He joined Hogan’s Heroes for its sixth and final season as Sergeant Richard Baker, succeeding Ivan Dixon’s character Kinchloe and marking one of the first regular network sitcom roles for a Black actor.
  • After retiring from acting in the late 1980s, Washington earned a degree from Loyola Marymount University and taught courses on Black film actors, public speaking and oral interpretation at LMU and Southwest College in Los Angeles.
  • He is survived by his wife, former Variety editor Alice Marshall, his three children, three grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, brother Johnnie and sister Aaliyah Akbar.