Ivan Dixon was a great actor, a pioneer in radio, television and film, a terrific director and, above all, a true gentleman. In 1994 I had the privilege of interviewing Ivan several times for my Hogan's Heroes project (I interviewed all of the surviving cast and contributors with the exception of Richard Dawson and Leon Askin).
Ivan was living in Hawaii at the time, so it took an effort to get ahold of him, but he was very kind to give of his time to help a fledgling, no-name would-be author from Nowhere, Pennsylvania on a project that, despite nearly everyone's best efforts, ended up going nowhere, also.
Of course, he's best known for his portrayal of Sgt. James Kinchloe (mistakenedly referred to as "Ivan" by a guest star in one episode), Col. Hogan's steady sidekick and de facto second-in-command. He also delivers one of my favorite lines of the series:
NEWKIRK: Well, the first thing we must do is not panic.
KINCHLOE: I already have -- what's the second thing?
Ivan went on to have continued success as an actor, a director and the owner / operator of a KONI FM in Hawaii. IMDB has his complete credits here.
His death on 3/16/08 leaves only a handful of survivors from that great show -- by my count, Robert Clary, Richard Dawson, Cynthia Lynn and Kenneth Washington among the regulars and semi-regulars (the latter two having only appeared in one season apiece), along with co-creator Al Ruddy, and directors Bruce Bilson, Robert Butler and Gene Reynolds, all of whom are in their 70's and 80's.
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