In 1965 , Dawson had a small role at the end of the film '' King Rat '' , starring George Segal , playing 1st Recon paratrooper Captain Weaver , sent to liberate allied POWs in a Japanese prison . Dawson had by then moved to Los Angeles , California . He gained fame in the television show '' Hogan 's Heroes '' as Cpl. Peter Newkirk from 1965 to 1971 . He had a minor role in Universal 's '' Munster , Go Home ! '' . A year later , Dawson released a psychedelic 45 rpm single including the songs " His Children 's Parade " and " Apples & Oranges " on Carnation Records . In 1968 , Dawson was in the film '' The Devil 's Brigade '' as Private Hugh McDonald . Dawson was a frequent guest host for '' Tonight Show '' host Johnny Carson during the late 1970s . Before it was known how much longer Carson 's tenure would last ( Carson would host the show until 1992 ) , Dawson was a contender for the role of '' Tonight Show '' host in the event that Carson left the show , a move that he was seriously considering during 1979 – 80 . Of the few '' Tonight Show '' episodes during Carson 's time as host that did not air on the night that they were intended , Dawson was a guest host on two of them . During one of these , actress Della Reese suffered a near-fatal aneurysm mid-interview during one taping , and the remainder of the episode was cancelled ( Reese later recovered ) . Another episode featured an untimely monologue regarding the danger of flying on airplanes , so it was replaced with a repeat due to the fact that it would have aired the same night as the crash of American Airlines Flight 191 in Chicago , which killed all 273 people aboard . ( The episode aired several weeks later . ) Following the cancellation of '' Hogan 's Heroes '' , he was a regular joke-telling panellist on the short-lived syndicated revival of the game show '' Can You Top This ? '' in 1970 and joined the cast of '' Rowan & Martin 's Laugh-In '' that same year
American Airlines Flight 191
American Airlines Flight 191
Richard Dawson