Who Are Those Guys? - Leon Askin

Born Leon Aschkenasy on September 18, 1907 in Vienna, Austria. He wanted to become an actor as far back as childhood. He worked in cabarets in the 1930s and became the director of the ABC Theater in Vienna. Askin became a versatile actor and was known as “The Man of a Thousand Faces”. Because of his family's Jewish roots they were persecuted during the early days of World War II. Leon escaped to France and then the United States arriving in 1940. He joined the U.S. Army and while serving learned his parents had been killed at Treblinka concentration camp. After the war he went to Hollywood playing foreign characters with thick accents. He became famous with his portrayal of General Albert Burkhalter on TV's “Hogan's Heroes” in the late 1960s. Leon returned to Vienna and the stage and was awarded Vienna's Gold Medal of Honor. Askin died on June 3, 2005 at 97 years of age. During his film years he made one Euro-western as the Vicar General in 1967's “Guns for San Sebastian”.


ASKIN, Leon, (Leon Aschkenasy) [9/18/1907, Vienna, Austria – 6/3/2005, Vienna, Austria (old age)] – TV actor.
Guns for San Sebastian – 1967 (Vicar General)