Veteran American actor Robert Hogan, who appeared in more than 100 primetime shows, has died. He was 87 years old.
According to his family’s announcement in the New York Times, Hogan died due to complications from pneumonia at his home in Maine on May 27. He had been living with vascular Alzheimer’s disease since 2013.
Born in Jamaica, Queens, Hogan served as a member of the U.S. Army in Korea and went on to study engineering at New York University after an honorable discharge. As a student, a professor took notice of Hogan and suggested he take an aptitude test to help decide if engineering was really the right professional path for him.
His test results suggested Hogan enter the arts, which sent him down a six-decade-long path in the film and television industry. The New Yorker’s first move was to refine his skills as an actor at Manhattan’s esteemed American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Hogan appeared in more than 100 primetime shows as well as nearly every daytime drama on the air in his career. His extensive television resume includes “Hogan’s Heroes,” “The Donna Reed Show,” “The Twilight Zone,” “I Dream of Jeannie,” “Laverne & Shirley,” “Gunsmoke,” “The Manhunter,” “Operation Petticoat,” “One Day at a Time,” “Peyton Place” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” and “The Wire” (playing retired shipwright Louis Sobotka, Frank Sobotka’s elder brother).
Hogan is survived by novelist Mary Hogan, his wife of 38 years; his children Chris, Stephen and Jud, whose mother is his first wife, fine artist Shannon Hogan; and grandchildren Susanna and Liam. Instead of flowers, the family requests donations be made to DOROT in New York City or the Alzheimer’s Association.
