John Banner
Encyclopedia
John Banner born Johann Banner, was an American film
and television
actor
, who was born and died in Vienna
, Austria
.
He is best known for his role as the World War II
German
Master Sergeant Hans Georg Schultz in the situation comedy
Hogan's Heroes
(1965–1971). A veteran of World War I
, Schultz constantly encountered evidence that the inmates of his Stalag
(prisoner-of-war camp
) were planning mayhem, but realised he would be better off feigning ignorance. His constant catchphrase was "I know nothing! Nothing!" One episode of Hogan's Heroes was titled "At Last: Schultz Knows Something".
, Austria-Hungary
. He studied for a law
degree, but decided instead to become an actor. In 1938, when he was performing with an acting troupe in Switzerland
, Adolf Hitler
annexed Austria to Nazi Germany
. Banner emigrated to the United States
, where he rapidly picked up English. He began acting in Hollywood films, ironically usually playing a Nazi soldier.
His feature-film
credits include more than 40 films; his first was Pacific Blackout. He played a Gestapo
agent in 20th Century Fox
's Chetniks! The Fighting Guerrillas
(1943). His typecasting
did not please him, as his family members who had remained in Vienna all perished in Nazi concentration camps
, but it was the only work he was offered.
, The Lucy Show
, Alias Smith and Jones
, Perry Mason
, The Partridge Family
, The Untouchables
("Takeover" episode; 1962) Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
("Hot Line" episode; 1964) and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
("The Neptune Affair" episode; 1964).
In the late 1950s a quite slim Banner portrayed the supervisor of Peter Tchaikovsky
on a Disneyland Anthology series about the composer's life. This followed a scene with fellow Hogan actor Leon Askin
(Burkhalter) as Nikolai Rubinstein.
In 1954, he played the regular role of Bavarro in the children's series Rocky Jones, Space Ranger
. Two years later, he played a train conductor in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents
, appearing with future co-star Werner Klemperer
, who played a spy. Banner had a small role in an episode of Adventures of Superman
. He played Nazi villains in several later films, as Rudolf Höss in Operation Eichmann (1961) and Gregor Strasser
in Hitler
(1962).
By the 1960s, the once lean and handsome Banner's weight had increased to 280 pounds (127 kg). This helped gain him the part of the kindly but inept German prisoner of war camp guard in Hogan's Heroes
. Banner was loved not only by the viewers, but by the cast of Hogan's Heroes as well (as recalled by cast members on the Hogan's Heroes DVD
commentary). The Jewish Banner defended his character, telling TV Guide
in 1967: "Schultz is not a Nazi. I see Schultz as the representative of some kind of goodness in any generation."
After Hogan's Heroes was cancelled in 1971, Banner starred as the inept gangster Uncle Latzi in a short-lived television situation comedy, The Chicago Teddy Bears
.
His last acting appearance was in the March 7, 1972 episode of The Partridge Family
. He then retired with his Paris-born second wife to France.
in Vienna. His grave is in Gruppe 57 Reihe 2 Nummer 26. His tombstone no longer stands, as the space has been leased by the cemetery to the Johann Hübner family, but a small marker in German is there, saying (in English translation):
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, who was born and died in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
.
He is best known for his role as the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Master Sergeant Hans Georg Schultz in the situation comedy
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
Hogan's Heroes
Hogan's Heroes
Hogan's Heroes is an American television sitcom that ran for 168 episodes from September 17, 1965, to March 28, 1971, on the CBS network. The show was set in a German prisoner of war camp during the Second World War. Bob Crane had the starring role as Colonel Robert E...
(1965–1971). A veteran of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Schultz constantly encountered evidence that the inmates of his Stalag
Stalag
In Germany, stalag was a term used for prisoner-of-war camps. Stalag is a contraction of "Stammlager", itself short for Kriegsgefangenen-Mannschafts-Stammlager.- Legal definitions :...
(prisoner-of-war camp
Prisoner-of-war camp
A prisoner-of-war camp is a site for the containment of combatants captured by their enemy in time of war, and is similar to an internment camp which is used for civilian populations. A prisoner of war is generally a soldier, sailor, or airman who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or...
) were planning mayhem, but realised he would be better off feigning ignorance. His constant catchphrase was "I know nothing! Nothing!" One episode of Hogan's Heroes was titled "At Last: Schultz Knows Something".
Early years
Banner was born to Jewish parents in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
. He studied for a law
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
degree, but decided instead to become an actor. In 1938, when he was performing with an acting troupe in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
annexed Austria to Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. Banner emigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where he rapidly picked up English. He began acting in Hollywood films, ironically usually playing a Nazi soldier.
His feature-film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
credits include more than 40 films; his first was Pacific Blackout. He played a Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
agent in 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
's Chetniks! The Fighting Guerrillas
Chetniks! The Fighting Guerrillas
Chetniks! The Fighting Guerrillas was a major war film made by Twentieth Century Fox in 1943. The film starred Philip Dorn, Anna Sten, and Martin Kosleck. The movie, originally titled The Seventh Column, was directed by Louis King based on a story by Jack Andrews, who also co-wrote the screenplay....
(1943). His typecasting
Typecasting (acting)
In TV, film, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character; one or more particular roles; or, characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ethnic groups...
did not please him, as his family members who had remained in Vienna all perished in Nazi concentration camps
Nazi concentration camps
Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...
, but it was the only work he was offered.
From the 1950s to Hogan's Heroes
Banner made more than 70 television appearances between 1950 and 1970, including Mister EdMister Ed
Originally produced in late 1960, Mister Ed is an American television situation comedy produced by Filmways that first aired in syndication from January 5 to July 2, 1961, and then on CBS from October 1, 1961, to February 6, 1966....
, The Lucy Show
The Lucy Show
The Lucy Show is an American situation comedy that aired on CBS from 1962 until 1968. It was Lucille Ball's follow-up to I Love Lucy. A significant change in cast and premise for the 1965-66 season divides the program into two distinct eras; aside from Ball, only Gale Gordon, who joined the program...
, Alias Smith and Jones
Alias Smith and Jones
Alias Smith and Jones is an American Western series that originally aired on ABC from 1971 to 1973. It stars Pete Duel as Hannibal Heyes and Ben Murphy as Jedediah "Kid" Curry, a pair of Western cousin outlaws trying to reform...
, Perry Mason
Perry Mason (TV series)
Perry Mason is an American legal drama produced by Paisano Productions that ran from September 1957 to May 1966 on CBS. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...
, The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family is an American television sitcom about a widowed mother and her five children who embark on a music career. The series originally ran from September 25, 1970 until August 31, 1974, the last new episode airing on March 23, 1974, on the ABC network, as part of a Friday-night lineup...
, The Untouchables
The Untouchables (1959 TV series)
The Untouchables is an American crime drama that ran from 1959 to 1963 on ABC. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness, a real-life Prohibition agent, as he fought crime in Chicago during the 1930s with the help of a...
("Takeover" episode; 1962) Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (TV series)
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is a 1960s American science fiction television series based on the 1961 film of the same name. Both were created by Irwin Allen, which enabled the movie's sets, costumes, props, special effects models, and sometimes footage, to be used in the production of the...
("Hot Line" episode; 1964) and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. It follows the exploits of two secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a fictitious secret international espionage and law-enforcement...
("The Neptune Affair" episode; 1964).
In the late 1950s a quite slim Banner portrayed the supervisor of Peter Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
on a Disneyland Anthology series about the composer's life. This followed a scene with fellow Hogan actor Leon Askin
Leon Askin
Leon Askin was an Austrian actor best known for portraying the character "General Burkhalter" on the TV sitcom Hogan's Heroes.-Early life:...
(Burkhalter) as Nikolai Rubinstein.
In 1954, he played the regular role of Bavarro in the children's series Rocky Jones, Space Ranger
Rocky Jones, Space Ranger
Rocky Jones, Space Ranger is a syndicated science fiction television serial originally broadcast in 1954. The show lasted for only two seasons and, though syndicated sporadically, dropped into obscurity. But because it was recorded on film rather than being broadcast live as were most other TV...
. Two years later, he played a train conductor in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the premiere of the show on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades...
, appearing with future co-star Werner Klemperer
Werner Klemperer
Werner Klemperer was a comedic and dramatic actor, best known for his role as Colonel Klink on the CBS television sitcom, Hogan's Heroes.-Early life:...
, who played a spy. Banner had a small role in an episode of Adventures of Superman
Adventures of Superman (TV series)
Adventures of Superman is an American television series based on comic book characters and concepts created in 1938 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The show is the first television series to feature Superman and began filming in 1951 in California...
. He played Nazi villains in several later films, as Rudolf Höss in Operation Eichmann (1961) and Gregor Strasser
Gregor Strasser
Gregor Strasser was a politician of the National Socialist German Workers Party...
in Hitler
Hitler (1962 film)
Hitler is a black and white U.S. made film . The film stars Richard Basehart in the title role of Adolf Hitler. Cordula Trantow stars as Geli Raubal and Maria Emo as Eva Braun. John Banner stars as Gregor Strasser...
(1962).
By the 1960s, the once lean and handsome Banner's weight had increased to 280 pounds (127 kg). This helped gain him the part of the kindly but inept German prisoner of war camp guard in Hogan's Heroes
Hogan's Heroes
Hogan's Heroes is an American television sitcom that ran for 168 episodes from September 17, 1965, to March 28, 1971, on the CBS network. The show was set in a German prisoner of war camp during the Second World War. Bob Crane had the starring role as Colonel Robert E...
. Banner was loved not only by the viewers, but by the cast of Hogan's Heroes as well (as recalled by cast members on the Hogan's Heroes DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
commentary). The Jewish Banner defended his character, telling TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
in 1967: "Schultz is not a Nazi. I see Schultz as the representative of some kind of goodness in any generation."
After Hogan's Heroes was cancelled in 1971, Banner starred as the inept gangster Uncle Latzi in a short-lived television situation comedy, The Chicago Teddy Bears
The Chicago Teddy Bears
The Chicago Teddy Bears is an American sitcom that aired on CBS. The series was part of the network's 1971 fall lineup, premiering on September 17, 1971.-Synopsis:Unlike other shows set in Prohibition-era Chicago, The Chicago Teddy Bears was a sitcom...
.
His last acting appearance was in the March 7, 1972 episode of The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family is an American television sitcom about a widowed mother and her five children who embark on a music career. The series originally ran from September 25, 1970 until August 31, 1974, the last new episode airing on March 23, 1974, on the ABC network, as part of a Friday-night lineup...
. He then retired with his Paris-born second wife to France.
Death
Less than one year after moving back to Europe, while visiting friends in Vienna, John Banner died from an abdominal hemorrhage on his 63rd birthday. He was buried at the cemetery in the Mauer neighborhoodMauer, Vienna
Mauer is a former village of Lower Austria that since 1938 has been part of Vienna. Today it is part of the 23rd District of Vienna, Liesing. Its name literally means "wall".- History :...
in Vienna. His grave is in Gruppe 57 Reihe 2 Nummer 26. His tombstone no longer stands, as the space has been leased by the cemetery to the Johann Hübner family, but a small marker in German is there, saying (in English translation):
Here is the last resting place of the actor John Banner, known as 'Sergeant First Class Hans Schultz' in the comedy show 'A Cage Full of Heroes' [in English, Hogan's Heroes]. You have provided us with many memorable hours; you will live forever in our hearts. We, your family, will never forget you.
