Kenneth Washington, the last surviving main cast member of Hogan’s Heroes, who made many memorable appearances on TV in the ’60s through the ’80s, has died.
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The veteran actor and teacher died on July 18, according to Variety. No cause of death was given. Washington was 88.
A frequent guest star on 1960s TV series, Washington appeared in roles on I Dream of Jeannie, My Three Sons, The Name of the Game, Petticoat Junction, Marcus Welby, M.D., Adam-12 and Dragnet 1967.
Meanwhile, Washington also made a fan-favorite appearance on the original Star Trek series. He guest-starred as Star Fleet engineer John B. Watkins on the Season 3 episode, “That Which Survives.”
Good morning, friends. We have lost yet another TOS alumni this week. Kenneth Washington played Watkins in That Which Survives. We'll watch that tomorrow night as we say goodbye to him and Tom Troupe. Tom was in Arena, which we just watched recently. #TOSSatNight pic.twitter.com/HraVTqKwgA
— TOSSatNight (@TOSSatNight) July 25, 2025
He joined CBS’s Hogan’s Heroes as Sergeant Baker in 1970, but CBS canceled the show the next year. In the 1970s, he appeared in TV series such as The Paul Lynde Show, The F.B.I., The Rockford Files and Police Story.
He appeared in the 1973 sci-fi classic Westworld and starred in several notable TV movies, including J. Edgar Hoover, Money on the Side and Our Family Business.
Washington’s final on-screen credit was in 1989 in the NBC sitcom A Different World, alongside Jasmine Guy, Lisa Bonet, and Kadeem Hardison.
Kenneth Washington Also Enjoyed a Career in Academics
Born in Ethel, Mississippi, Washington relocated with his family to California, where he grew up in the Bay Area, splitting his childhood between Redwood City and San Francisco. After landing his first screen test, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting.
After his acting career, he earned a college degree from Loyola Marymount University and became an instructor there, teaching a course on Black actors in film. He later taught oral interpretation and speech at Southwest College.
Meanwhile, Washington was married twice. His first marriage, to Alyce Loretta Hawkins, lasted from 1959 to 1969. In 2001, he married journalist Alice Marshall, a distinguished former editor-in-chief of Wave Newspapers and film reviews editor at Variety.
He is survived by his wife, his brother Johnnie, his sister Aaliyah Akbar, his three children, Kim Lee, Kenneth Jr., and Quianna Stokes-Washington, as well as three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.