Actor, director and producer Ivan Dixon best known for his role as Kinchloe on the 1960s television series “Hogan’s Heroes,” has passed away at age 76. Dixon died Sunday at Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte after a hemorrhage and of complications from kidney failure, said his daughter, Doris Nomathande Dixon of Charlotte.

Dixon began his acting career on Broadway in plays including “The Cave Dwellers” and “A Raisin in the Sun.” On film, he appeared in “Something of Value,” “A Raisin in the Sun,” “A Patch of Blue,” “Nothing But a Man” and the cult favorite “Car Wash.”

But he was probably best known for the role of U.S. Staff Sgt. James Kinchloe on “Hogan’s Heroes,” a satire set in a German prisoner-of-war camp during World War II. Kinchloe, in charge of electronic communications, could mimic German officers on the radio or phone.

While her father was most proud of work in plays such as “A Raisin in the Sun” and for films such as “Nothing But a Man,” he had no mixed feelings about being recognized for the role of Kinchloe, his daughter said.

“It was a pivotal role as well, because there were not as many blacks in TV series at that time,” Nomathande Dixon said. “He did have some personal issues with that role, but it also launched him into directing.”

Dixon also earned an Emmy nomination for his performance in the CBS Playhouse special “The Final War of Olly Winter.” [Associated Press]

Hogan’s Heroes was a satirical American sitcom set in a German prisoner of war (POW) camp during the Second World War.

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