Actor Kenneth Washington, who starred in a number of high-profile television and movie productions spanning several decades, passed away at the age of 88.
Variety reports that Washington passed away on July 18 of last week.
The performer had the unfortunate distinction of being the final cast member of the beloved CBS sitcom Hogan’s Heroes, which was set in a Nazi Germany prisoner of war camp.
Washington appeared as a guest on several popular television shows, such as My Three Sons, the 1967 Dragnet revival, Petticoat Junction, The FBI, The Rockford Files, and Police Story.
In 1969, he also had the honour of appearing as a guest on the third and last season of the original Star Trek series.
In 1970, Washington appeared in the sixth and last season of Hogan’s Heroes.
He portrayed Sergeant Richard Baker, who stepped in for another Black actor, Ivan Dixon, who had played Staff Sergeant James ‘Kinch’ Kinchloe for the previous five seasons.
Despite being a member of the major cast, Washington’s role was not as spicy as Dixon’s.
After his first season on Hogan’s Heroes, the show was cancelled, so he didn’t have time to develop the character.
Early on, the show was a ratings triumph, and after receiving 12 nominations, it went on to win two Emmy Awards.
When Hogan’s Heroes was honoured at the inaugural NAACP Image Awards in 1967, it was also acknowledged for having prominent Black actors.
Washington also had an appearance on Star Trek, which was highly praised for its diverse casting, and had a guest part on Daktari, another program that year that received recognition at the Image Awards.
Although Washington was best renowned for his work in television, he did have a few small, occasionally uncredited roles in a few films.
His most well-known film performance was as a technician in Westworld, a 1973 sci-fi western thriller directed by Michael Crichton.
His longest-running television role, aside from his season on Hogan’s Heroes, was that of Officer Miller on Adam-12. The popular police drama featured him in eight episodes in 1968 and 1969.
Washington was born in 1936 in Ethel, Mississippi, but his family quickly moved to the Bay Area of California.
After becoming interested in acting as an adult, Washington relocated to Los Angeles in order to concentrate on auditions.
He attended Loyola Marymount University to complete his degree when his acting career came to an end, and he later returned to teach a class on Black performers in movies.
Variety claims that Washington also instructed speech and oral interpretation seminars at Southwest College in Los Angeles.
From 1959 to 1969, Washington was married to Alyce Hawkins, with whom he had three children: Quianna Stokes-Washington, Kenneth Jr., and Kim Lee.
In 2001, he wed his second wife, Alice Marshall, a former Variety film reviews editor and the editor-in-chief of the Wave Newspapers in Los Angeles.
In addition to his brother Johnnie and sister Aaliyah Akbar, Washington is survived by his wife, three children, three granddaughters, and four great-grandchildren.