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Bob Crane – IMDb: Bob Crane, Actor: Hogan’s Heroes. Handsome Bob Crane had many careers including working as a disc jockey for a while. He started acting around the age of 33. One of his first acting jobs was in Return to Peyton Place (1961). After a guest appearance on The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961) and a supporting role on The Donna Reed Show (1958), he landed the lead role of Col. Robert Hogan in …
FILM FESTIVAL REVIEWS; The Bob Crane Story, Everything But a Hero: In the tawdry life and violent demise of Bob Crane, star of the television sitcom "Hogan’s Heroes," Paul Schrader has found a subject well suited to his preoccupations with sex, pornography and the existential agony of self-deluded men. As played by Greg Kinnear, Crane is an affable, charming fellow undone by fame, promiscuity and videotape. His sex addiction is made creepier by his compulsion to record his trysts with the aid of technology supplied by John Carpenter (Willem Dafoe), a video expert who was later tried in Crane’s murder, and acquitted (a verdict the film regards with implicit skepticism). Despite Mr. Kinnear’s smart, vivid performance, the movie keeps Crane at a distance. Mr. Schrader is ultimately less interested in the man than in the condition, and he has produced a moral tale that is chilling and disturbing but never really moving. — A. O. Scott
‘Auto Focus’ captures star’s downfall | Festivals & Awards | Roger Ebert: TELLURIDE, Colo.–Bob Crane seems to have been an awfully nice guy. Not a faithful husband, not a great father, but a helluva nice guy to run into late at night in a bar or a strip club, especially if you were young, female, and a fan of “Hogan’s Heroes.” Chances are he would even oblige you by having sex.
Cold Case: Murdered Actor Kept a Secret Now Flaunted by Celebutantes: A wholesome image helped Bob Crane become one of LA’s biggest radio and TV stars of the 60’s and 70’s. When he was murdered, authorities found evidence of a secret life that may have played a role in his death, which remains officially unsolved after the main suspect was acquitted at trial.
First came the sitcom. Then came the murder. Then came the pornographic Web site. Now here comes the Holly wood biopic!: Lynn Hirschberg article explores seedy life of television actor Bob Crane, as depicted in Paul Schrader’s movie Auto Focus; says Crane’s sex addiction probably led to his murder; recounts his fascination with pornography; notes irony that movie about his life makes him star he always wanted to be; describes squabbling among Crane’s sons Scott and Bob now that name is in headlines; both sons appear to be profiting from their father’s new notoriety; photos (L)
My botty best at summarizing from Wikipedia: Robert Edward Crane was an actor, drummer, radio personality, and disc jockey . he starred in the CBS situation comedy Hogan’s Heroes . in the early 1960s, he moved into acting, landing the in 1975, he returned to television in the NBC series The Bob Crane Show . the series received poor ratings and was cancelled after 13 weeks . while on tour in 1978, Crane was found bludgeoned Crane was popular and uncontroversial before his death . he organized local drum and bugle parades with his neighborhood friends . posthumous revelations about his personal life made him controversial figure . Crane graduated from Stamford high school in 1946 . in 1948 he enlisted for two years in the Connecticut Army National Guard . he was honorably discharged in 1950 . in 1956 he was hired by CBS Radio to host the morning show at its west coast flagship KNX in Los Angeles . his show quickly topped the morning ratings with adult listeners in the los Angeles area . Crane’ Crane became a regular cast member, beginning with the “Friends and Neighbors” episode . his character, Dr. David Kelsey, was incorporated into the story line . Ann McCrea was cast the show finished in the top 10 in its first year . the distinctive military-style snare drum rhythm was played by Crane himself . Crane was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1966 and 1967 . the couple separated in 1977, but reconciled shortly before Crane’s death . in 1973, he purchased the rights to a comedy play called Beginner’s Luck . he guest-starred in a number in early 1978, Crane taped a travel documentary in Hawaii, and recorded an appearance on the Canadian cooking show Celebrity Cooks . Neither aired in the u.s. following his death . his appearance Crane and Carpenter would videotape their joint sexual encounters . some women didn’t know they had been recorded until after Crane’s murder . Carpenter later became national sales manager at Akai . Crane’s funeral was held at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in westwood, los angeles . an estimated 200 family members and friends attended . co-stars Larry Hovis, Robert Clary, and Crane’s son, Robert, interred in Chatsworth, California . Patricia Olson later had his remains relocated to westwood village memorial park . no no one else known to have been in the car tested for Crane’s blood type . DNA testing was inconclusive, but an evidence photograph of the car’s interior showed brain tissue . the tissue samples recovered from the car had been lost . an Arizona judge ruled that the new evidence was admissible . Carpenter was arrested and charged with Crane’s murder . the prosecution’s camera tripod theory was sheer speculation, they say . they disputed the claim that the newly discovered evidence photo showed brain tissue . defense attorneys propose angry husbands, boyfriends and actor sworn vengeance he continued to maintain his innocence until his death four years later, in 1998 . Crane’s son repeated his suspicions in a 2015 book, Crane: Sex, Celebrity, and My Father’s Unsolv two sequences were identified, one from an unknown male, and the other too degraded to reach a conclusion . the film portrays Crane as a happily married, church-going family man and popular disc jockey Scotty Crane’s son with Olson, Scotty, challenged the film’s accuracy in an October 2002 review . Crane was a sex addict long before he became a star . there was no the site was renamed “Bob Crane: the Official Web Site” but is now abandoned . the “official” Bob Crane website was maintained by CMG Worldwide . Cold Cases: Famous Unsolved Mysteries, Crimes, and Disappearances in America. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 0-313-37692-1 Hook, John. Crane: Sex, Celebrity, and My Father’s Unsolved Murder. University Press of Kentucky (2015). Crane’s The Final Close-Up. Brisance Books Group (2016). ISBN 9781944 Crime and Investigation Network. “Murder in Scottsdale : The Death of Bob Crane”. Video. Published May 30, 2014. Ford, Carol M., Young, Dee, and Groundwater, Linda. Bob Crane: The Definitive Biography. AuthorMike Ink (2015). ISBN 0991033078 Fox 10 Phoenix (KSAZ-TV). Graysmith, Robert. The Murder of Bob Crane: Who Killed the Star of Hogan’s Heroes?. Crown Publishers, New York (1993). ISBN 0517592096 Scott, A.O. “The Bob Crane Story: Everything but a Hero”.
