Robert J. Hogan (born September 28, 1933) is an American actor. While not a stranger to the big screen or the stage, Hogan is best known to audiences for his highly prolific career in American television which began in 1961. While he has never been a member of the main cast of a critically successful television series, he has portrayed numerous recurring characters on programs such as Alice, Another World, As the World Turns, Days of Our Lives, Deadline, General Hospital, Law & Order, Murder, She Wrote, One Life to Live, Operation Petticoat, Peyton Place, and The Wire . His guest star appearances on other television series encompass more than 90 shows over the last five decades. The character of Air Force colonel Robert Hogan on Hogan's Heroes (portrayed by Bob Crane) was named after him by friend and series creator Bernard Fein.
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Born and raised in New York City, Hogan began his career appearing in theatre, making his professional debut as Elliot in the original 1961 Off-Broadway production of Michael Shurtleff's Call Me By My Rightful Name with Robert Duvall and Joan Hackett. He relocated to Los Angeles shortly thereafter to pursue a career in television and film. He landed work almost immediately upon his arrival, appearing as a guest star in episodes of 77 Sunset Strip and Cheyenne in 1961. He maintained an active career as a guest star on television programs throughout the 1960s on such programs as Batman, Bonanza, Fair Exchange, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Hawaiian Eye, Hogan's Heroes, Twelve O'Clock High, and The Twilight Zone to name just a few. He also appeared in two 1963 films: FBI Code 98 and Greenwich Village Story. In 1968 he landed the role of Reverend Tom Winter on the soap opera Peyton Place which he portrayed for two seasons.[1]
In 1969 Hogan joined the cast of Days of Our Lives, portraying Will Austin for a short time and then in 1970 returned portraying the recurring role of Scott Banning, Sr for two years. He continued to be active working as a guest actor for episodic television series throughout the 1970s for programs like The F.B.I., Gunsmoke, Hawaii Five-O, M*A*S*H, Mission: Impossible, Mork & Mindy and The Rockford Files among many others. He portrayed the role of Sheriff Paul Tate on the relatively short lived series The Manhunter (1974-1975) and the role of Ben Krisler in the mini-series Once an Eagle (1976). He also played the re-curring characters of Burt Marshall on General Hospital (1973), Lt. Cmdr. Haller on Operation Petticoat (1978-1979), and Greg Stemple on Alice (1977-1982). He also appeared in several television movies and on the big screen as Jake Lingle in The Lady in Red (1979).
Hogan continued to maintain an active television career throughout the 1980s, appearing as a guest actor on such shows as Airwolf, Barnaby Jones, The Incredible Hulk, Knight Rider, Laverne & Shirley, Magnum, P.I., Quincy M.E., St. Elsewhere, and T.J. Hooker to name just a few. He also portrayed the recurring roles of Dr. Wylie Graham on Murder, She Wrote (1984-1989) and Vince McKinnon on Another World (1987-1989, 1991). He also appeared in a number of television movies and in the role of John F. Kennedy in the film Prince Jack (1985).
During the 1990s Hogan returned to working in the theatre. He made his Broadway debut in November of 1989, as Capt. Matthew A. Markinson in the original production of Aaron Sorkin's A Few Good Men, remaining with the show for more than a year. He returned to Broadway in 1992 to portray the roles of the Ghost and the Player King in William Shakespear's Hamlet. He also appeared in numerous Off-Broadway productions, including Neal Bell's On the Bum (1992), Wm. S. Leavengood's The Preservation Society (1996), Mark R. Shapiro's The Shattering (1996), Frank Pugliese's Hope is the Thing with Feathers (1998), and John Logan's Never the Sinner (1998). For his performance in the latter play he won an Outer Critics Circle Award.
With his career more centered on the stage, Hogan's television career slowed somewhat during the 1990s. He did however portray the recurring roles of L.J. McDermott on As the World Turns (1991-1992) and Charles Briggs on One Life to Live (1995-1998, 2000). He also appeared as a guest actor on the shows Remember WENN (1997), Cosby (1997), and Now and Again (1999), and in the films Blue Christmas (1998), Species II (1998), Advice from a Caterpillar (1999), and Little Man (1999).
Hogan has continued to remain active in television, film, and theatre during the last decade. He has notably portrayed the recurring roles of Phil Carbone on Deadline (2000), Louis Sobotka on The Wire (2003), and Judge Hugo Bright on Law & Order (2003-2006). His has appeared in the films Maze (2000), Cupid & Cate (2000), Brooklyn Sonnet (2000), The Sleepy Time Gal (2001), Sweet Land (2005), Day Zero (2007), Universal Signs (2008), and Welcome to Academia (2009). He also appeared Off-Broadway in the plays Further Than the Furthest Thing (2002), What Didn't Happen (2002), Boy (2004), The Accomplices (2007), and Mourning Becomes Electra (2009).