Fraulein Hilda was the alluring blonde secretary who aided the Allied cause at the German POW camp, mostly because she was in love with U.S. Colonel Robert Hogan (Bob Crane). And in real life, she married Crane during the show's next to last season.
A woman of Swedish heritage, Sigrid Valdis was the stage name of American actress Patricia Olson. The voluptuous German maiden Hilda joined the cast during the second season, replacing Helga (Cynthia Lynn), Colonel Wilhelm Klink's previous secretary, whom was deemed by the producers as too wholesome. Hilda brought more sex appeal and became the only recurring female cast member during the show's run.
Set in Stalag 13, the German Prisoner of War camp during World War II, "Hogan's Heroes" utilized comedy to exaggerate the German's incompentcy. Hogan and his crew of international POWs coordinated the Allied's espionage and sabatoge operations from the camp.
Hilda shamelessly flirted with Hogan behind Klink's back, and he bribed her with candy and stockings for secret information. More than once she told Hogan that she'd rather receive an engagement ring from him than gifts.
The prisoner and secretary did have their moments; after the two experienced intimacy, Hilda exclaimed, "This is the first time I ever made love in a colonel's car."
Hogan responded: "It won't always be like this... sometime we'll make love in a general's car."
Sigrid and Crane married in 1970 on the studio's sound stage with co-star Richard Dawson serving as the groom's best man. Sigrid retired from acting the next year after giving birth to a son, and she became known as Patricia Crane.
Sigrid's marriage to Crane fractured as the "Hogan's Heroes" star delved into porn and sex addiction. The couple reconciled but then Crane was brutally murdered in an Arizona hotel room in 1978.
Sigrid vigorously opposed the biopic of Crane's life and murder, "Auto Focus," released in 2002.
Sigrid died of lung cancer in 2007 at age 72.
Born in Bakersfield, Calif., Sigrid modeled as a teen-ager before starting her acting career. She appeared in several TV shows, including "The Wild Wild West."
She had small parts in the films "Marriage on the Rocks" with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, and "Our Man Flint" with James Colburn in the mid-1960s.
Sigrid also worked on TV with Phil Silvers, Steve Allen, Red Skelton, and Sid Caesar.
After she won the role of Hilda, Sigrid became romantically involved with Crane, who divorced his wife of 20 years.
No. 26
Classic TV Beauties 1960s Countdown
SIGRID VALDIS as Fraulein Hilda in "Hogan's Heroes"
