Robert Hogan, Actor Who Appeared on The Wire and Peyton Place, Dies at 87

November 2024 · 4 minute read

Robert Hogan, the TV actor who appeared in over 100 primetime shows, has died. He was 87.

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.

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Between his work in California and New York, Hogan landed in dozens of popular shows. His television resume, which goes back to the ’60s, includes “Hogan’s Heroes,” “The Donna Reed Show,” “The Twilight Zone,” “I Dream of Jeannie,” “Laverne & Shirley,” “One Day at a Time,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “The Wire,” “General Hospital” and a number of “Law & Order” programs in the aughts.

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Outside of television, Hogan devoted a good portion of his career to theater. He won the Outer Critics Circle Award in 1998 for his portrayal of attorney Clarence Darrow in “Never the Sinner.” A year later, he was in Aaron Sorkin’s original Broadway run of “A Few Good Men.” More recently, Leonardo DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” shouted out Hogan and praised his work while watching an episode of “The F.B.I.”

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.

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