Background
Howard Caine was born on January 2, 1926, in Nashville, Tennessee, into a Jewish family.
Howard Caine was born on January 2, 1926, in Nashville, Tennessee, into a Jewish family.
After the war, Caine studied drama at Columbia University, where he graduated summa cum laude.
He also played Lewis Morris of New York in the musical film 1776, and Everett Scovill, a thinly disguised portrait of Charles Manson"s attorney Irving Kanarek, in the television movie, Helter Skelter. At the age of 13, Cohen moved with his family to New York City, where he began studying acting. Learning to erase his Southern accent, he went on to became a master of 32 foreign and American dialects.
Caine served in the United States Navy during World World War II, fighting the Japanese in the Pacific Theatre.
He appeared on Broadway in Wonderful Town, Inherit the Wind, Lunatics and Lovers and Tiger at the Gates. He succeeded Ray Walston as "Mr.
Applegate" in the original production of Damn Yankees. He was featured in such films as From the Terrace (1960), Pay or Die (1960), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), Brushfire (1962), The Manitoba from the Diner"s Club (1963), Pressure Point (1962) and Alvarez Kelly (1966).
He co-starred with Godfrey Cambridge and Estelle Parsons in Watermelon Manitoba (1970).
He acted in more than 750 live and filmed television programs, including the western series, The Californians, Two Faces West, and The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters. He may be best-remembered as Major Hochstetter on Hogan"s Heroes (1965). In 1966, in the Hogan"s Heroes episode "The Battle of Stalag 13" he was cast as Colonel Feldkamp and in the episode "Happy Birthday, Adolf" he played Major Keitel.
Caine was featured as "Everett Scovill", a thinly disguised portrait of Charles Manson"s attorney Irving Kanarek, in Helter Skelter (1976).
From his early childhood in Tennessee, Caine had always been fascinated with the Appalachian five-string bluegrass banjo and began mastering it in the mid-1960s. From the summer of 1970 until his death in 1993, he had taken trophies at 29 prominent banjo and fiddle contests in the southland for both Best Traditional Banjo and Traditional Singing.
He was also a popular folk singer and appeared at a number of prominent folk clubs and folk festivals. Caine died of a heart attack on December 28, 1993.
President, chairman board Housing for Entertainment Professionals, Hollywood, California, since 1984. With United States Navy, 1944-1946. Member American Federation of television and Radio Artists (board directors national and Los Angeles chapter since 1983), Screen Actors Guild (national board directors since 1982), Academy television Arts and Sciences (New York City chapter), Academy Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (member foreign language and documentary awards committees), International Documentary Association, Actors Equity Association (board directors since 1981, member Western advisory board 1959-1964), American Film Institute, American Cinemathique, Interguild Womens Caucus.
Son of Alex L. and Julia (Minsky) Cohen. Widowed, August 1983. 1 child, Lyle Evan.