BOB CRANE
Name: Robert Edward Crane
Born: 13 July 1928 Waterbury, Connecticut, United States
Died: 28 June 1978 Scottsdale, Arizona, United States
Robert Edward Crane (July 13, 1928 – June 28, 1978) was an American disc jockey
and Emmy award-nominated actor, best known for his performance as Colonel Robert
E. Hogan in the television sitcom Hogan's Heroes from 1965 to 1971, and for his
violent and unsolved death.
Crane was born in Waterbury, Connecticut. He dropped out of high school in
1946 and became a drummer, performing with dance bands and a symphony orchestra.
In 1949, he married high school sweetheart Anne Terzian; they eventually had
three children, Deborah Ann, Karen Leslie, and Robert David (known as "Bob, Jr.").
He later divorced and remarried, producing another son, Robert Scott Crane.
In 1950, Crane started his broadcasting career at WLEA in Hornell, New York. He
quickly moved to WBIS in Bristol, Connecticut, followed by WICC in Bridgeport,
Connecticut. This was a 500-watt operation where he remained until 1956, when
the CBS radio network plucked Crane out to help stop his huge popularity from
affecting their own station's ratings. Crane moved his family to California to
host the morning show at KNX AM radio in Hollywood. He filled the broadcast with
sly wit, drumming, and guests such Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, and Bob Hope.
It quickly became the number-one rated morning show in the LA area, with Crane
known as "The King of the Los Angeles Airwaves."
Crane's acting ambitions led to his subbing for Johnny Carson on the daytime
game show Who Do You Trust? and appearances on The Twilight Zone, Alfred
Hitchcock Presents, and General Electric Theater. When Carl Reiner appeared on
his show, Crane persuaded him to book him for a guest shot on The Dick Van Dyke
Show, where he was noticed by Donna Reed, who suggested him for the role of
neighbor Dr. Dave Kelsey in her eponymous sitcom from 1963 through 1965.
In 1965, Crane was offered the starring role in a television comedy pilot about
a German P.O.W. camp. Hogan's Heroes became a hit and finished in the Top Ten in
its first year on the air. The series lasted six seasons, and Crane was
nominated for an Emmy Award twice, in 1966 and 1967. During its run, he met
Patricia Olsen who played Hilda under the stage name Sigrid Valdis. He divorced
his wife of twenty years and married Olsen on the set of the show in 1970. They
had a son, Scotty (Robert Scott), and adopted a daughter named Ana Marie.
Crane's drumming ability can be seen in the sixth season episode, "Look at the
Pretty Snowflakes," where he has an extended drum solo during the prisoners'
performance of the jazz standard "Cherokee".
Following the cancellation of Hogan's Heroes in 1971, Crane continued to act,
appearing in two Disney films and a number of TV shows, including Police Woman,
Quincy, M.E., and The Love Boat. A second series of his own, 1975's The Bob
Crane Show, was cancelled by NBC after three months.
During the run of Hogan's Heroes, sitcom costar Richard Dawson introduced Crane
to John Henry Carpenter, an electronics expert who sold VCRs. Carpenter is
alleged to have turned Crane onto a life of sex and pornographic movies made by
the two. Although Crane's family contests this version of the story, it is a
fact that Crane made home videotapes of numerous sexual orgies, using video
technology supplied by Carpenter, with Carpenter often participating in the
orgies. Crane is known to have made pornographic films as early as 1956.
On a late night in 1978, Crane allegedly called Carpenter to tell him that their
friendship was over. The following day, Crane was discovered violently
bludgeoned to death with a weapon that was never found (but was believed to be a
camera tripod) at the Winfield Place Apartments in Scottsdale, Arizona. Crane
had been appearing in Scottsdale in a production of a play titled Beginner's
Luck at the Windmill Dinner Theatre.
According to an episode of A&E's Cold Case Files, police officers who arrived at
the scene of the crime noted that Carpenter called the apartment several times
and didn't seem surprised that the police were there. This immediately raised
suspicion, and the car Carpenter had rented the previous day was impounded by
the police. In it several blood smears were found that matched Crane's blood
type. At that time DNA testing didn't exist to confirm if it was Crane's or not.
Due to a lack of sufficient evidence, the district attorney declined to file
charges and the case went cold.
In 1992, fourteen years after the murder, the case was reopened. An attempt to
test the blood found in the car Carpenter rented failed to produce any result
due to improper preservation of the evidence. The detective in charge instead
hoped a picture of what appeared to be a piece of subcutaneous tissue found in
the rental car (which had been lost since the original investigation) would
incriminate Carpenter. He was arrested and indicted. During Carpenter's trial in
1994, the prosecution showed a videotape of Crane and Carpenter engaging in sex
with the same woman to demonstrate their close relationship. However, Carpenter
was acquitted on a lack of convincing evidence. Both the murder and the motive
remain officially unsolved. Carpenter maintained his innocence until his death
on September 4, 1998.
Name: Robert Edward Crane
Born: 13 July 1928 Waterbury, Connecticut, United States
Died: 28 June 1978 Scottsdale, Arizona, United States
Robert Edward Crane (July 13, 1928 – June 28, 1978) was an American disc jockey
and Emmy award-nominated actor, best known for his performance as Colonel Robert
E. Hogan in the television sitcom Hogan's Heroes from 1965 to 1971, and for his
violent and unsolved death.
Crane was born in Waterbury, Connecticut. He dropped out of high school in
1946 and became a drummer, performing with dance bands and a symphony orchestra.
In 1949, he married high school sweetheart Anne Terzian; they eventually had
three children, Deborah Ann, Karen Leslie, and Robert David (known as "Bob, Jr.").
He later divorced and remarried, producing another son, Robert Scott Crane.
In 1950, Crane started his broadcasting career at WLEA in Hornell, New York. He
quickly moved to WBIS in Bristol, Connecticut, followed by WICC in Bridgeport,
Connecticut. This was a 500-watt operation where he remained until 1956, when
the CBS radio network plucked Crane out to help stop his huge popularity from
affecting their own station's ratings. Crane moved his family to California to
host the morning show at KNX AM radio in Hollywood. He filled the broadcast with
sly wit, drumming, and guests such Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, and Bob Hope.
It quickly became the number-one rated morning show in the LA area, with Crane
known as "The King of the Los Angeles Airwaves."
Crane's acting ambitions led to his subbing for Johnny Carson on the daytime
game show Who Do You Trust? and appearances on The Twilight Zone, Alfred
Hitchcock Presents, and General Electric Theater. When Carl Reiner appeared on
his show, Crane persuaded him to book him for a guest shot on The Dick Van Dyke
Show, where he was noticed by Donna Reed, who suggested him for the role of
neighbor Dr. Dave Kelsey in her eponymous sitcom from 1963 through 1965.
In 1965, Crane was offered the starring role in a television comedy pilot about
a German P.O.W. camp. Hogan's Heroes became a hit and finished in the Top Ten in
its first year on the air. The series lasted six seasons, and Crane was
nominated for an Emmy Award twice, in 1966 and 1967. During its run, he met
Patricia Olsen who played Hilda under the stage name Sigrid Valdis. He divorced
his wife of twenty years and married Olsen on the set of the show in 1970. They
had a son, Scotty (Robert Scott), and adopted a daughter named Ana Marie.
Crane's drumming ability can be seen in the sixth season episode, "Look at the
Pretty Snowflakes," where he has an extended drum solo during the prisoners'
performance of the jazz standard "Cherokee".
Following the cancellation of Hogan's Heroes in 1971, Crane continued to act,
appearing in two Disney films and a number of TV shows, including Police Woman,
Quincy, M.E., and The Love Boat. A second series of his own, 1975's The Bob
Crane Show, was cancelled by NBC after three months.
During the run of Hogan's Heroes, sitcom costar Richard Dawson introduced Crane
to John Henry Carpenter, an electronics expert who sold VCRs. Carpenter is
alleged to have turned Crane onto a life of sex and pornographic movies made by
the two. Although Crane's family contests this version of the story, it is a
fact that Crane made home videotapes of numerous sexual orgies, using video
technology supplied by Carpenter, with Carpenter often participating in the
orgies. Crane is known to have made pornographic films as early as 1956.
On a late night in 1978, Crane allegedly called Carpenter to tell him that their
friendship was over. The following day, Crane was discovered violently
bludgeoned to death with a weapon that was never found (but was believed to be a
camera tripod) at the Winfield Place Apartments in Scottsdale, Arizona. Crane
had been appearing in Scottsdale in a production of a play titled Beginner's
Luck at the Windmill Dinner Theatre.
According to an episode of A&E's Cold Case Files, police officers who arrived at
the scene of the crime noted that Carpenter called the apartment several times
and didn't seem surprised that the police were there. This immediately raised
suspicion, and the car Carpenter had rented the previous day was impounded by
the police. In it several blood smears were found that matched Crane's blood
type. At that time DNA testing didn't exist to confirm if it was Crane's or not.
Due to a lack of sufficient evidence, the district attorney declined to file
charges and the case went cold.
In 1992, fourteen years after the murder, the case was reopened. An attempt to
test the blood found in the car Carpenter rented failed to produce any result
due to improper preservation of the evidence. The detective in charge instead
hoped a picture of what appeared to be a piece of subcutaneous tissue found in
the rental car (which had been lost since the original investigation) would
incriminate Carpenter. He was arrested and indicted. During Carpenter's trial in
1994, the prosecution showed a videotape of Crane and Carpenter engaging in sex
with the same woman to demonstrate their close relationship. However, Carpenter
was acquitted on a lack of convincing evidence. Both the murder and the motive
remain officially unsolved. Carpenter maintained his innocence until his death
on September 4, 1998.