31 Facts About Bob Crane

Robert Edward Crane was an American actor, drummer, radio personality, and disc jockey known for starring in the CBS situation comedy Hogan's Heroes.

Bob Crane was a drummer from age 11, and he began his entertainment career as a radio personality, beginning in Hornell, New York and later in Connecticut.

Bob Crane then moved to Los Angeles, where he hosted the number-one rated morning radio show.

The series aired from 1965 to 1971, and Bob Crane received two Emmy Award nominations.

Bob Crane became frustrated with the few roles that he was being offered and began performing in dinner theater.

In 1975, he returned to television in the NBC series The Bob Crane Show, but the series received poor ratings and was cancelled after thirteen weeks.

Bob Crane was found bludgeoned to death in his Scottsdale, Arizona, apartment while on tour in June 1978 for a dinner theater production of Beginner's Luck.

Bob Crane was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, the younger of two sons of Rose Mary and Alfred Thomas Crane - the original spelling of the family name was Crean.

Bob Crane spent his childhood and teenaged years in Stamford.

Bob Crane began playing drums at the age of 11, and by junior high was organizing local drum and bugle parades with his neighborhood friends.

Bob Crane played for the Connecticut and Norwalk Symphony Orchestras as part of their youth orchestra program.

In 1950, Bob Crane began his career in radio broadcasting at WLEA in Hornell, New York.

Bob Crane soon moved to Connecticut stations WBIS in Bristol and then WICC in Bridgeport, a 1,000-watt operation with a signal covering the northeastern portion of the New York metropolitan area.

In 1956, Bob Crane was hired by CBS Radio to host the morning show at its West Coast flagship KNX in Los Angeles, California, partly to re-energize that station's ratings and partly to halt his erosion of suburban ratings at WCBS in New York City.

Bob Crane's show quickly topped the morning ratings with adult listeners in the Los Angeles area, and Crane became "king of the Los Angeles airwaves".

Bob Crane continued to work full-time at KNX during his stint on The Donna Reed Show, running back and forth from the KNX studio at Columbia Square to Columbia Studios.

In 1965, Bob Crane was offered the starring role in a CBS television sitcom set in a World War II POW camp.

The series lasted for six seasons on CBS, and Bob Crane was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1966 and 1967.

Bob Crane divorced Terzian in 1970, just before their 21st anniversary, and married Olson on the set of the show later that year, with series co-star Richard Dawson serving as best man.

In 1969, Bob Crane starred with Abby Dalton in a dinner theater production of Cactus Flower.

In 1975, he returned to television with his own series, The Bob Crane Show on NBC, which was cancelled after thirteen episodes.

In early 1978, Bob Crane taped a travel documentary in Hawaii and recorded an appearance on the Canadian cooking show Celebrity Cooks.

Bob Crane attracted many women due to his celebrity status, and he introduced Carpenter to them as his manager.

In June 1978, Bob Crane was living in the Winfield Place Apartments in Scottsdale during a run of Beginner's Luck at the Windmill Dinner Theatre.

Bob Crane had been bludgeoned to death with a weapon that was never identified, though investigators believed it to be a camera tripod.

Bob Crane's funeral was held on July 5,1978, at St Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Westwood, Los Angeles.

Bob Crane was interred in Oakwood Memorial Park in Chatsworth, California.

Bob Crane said that Carpenter had become "a hanger-on" and "a nuisance to the point of being obnoxious".

Robert testified that Bob Crane had called Carpenter the night before the murder and ended their friendship.

The film, based on a book on Bob Crane's murder written by Zodiac author Robert Graysmith, was described as "brilliant" by critic Roger Ebert.

The "official" Bob Crane website was maintained by CMG Worldwide.