Bob Crane

Handsome Bob Crane had many careers including working as a disc jockey for a while. In the early- through the mid-1960's, Crane was the #1 Morning Man in Southern California at the 50,000 watt KNX-AM, the CBS-Owned and Operated Radio Station in Los Angeles. Celebrities and Movie Stars were among his guests. Green Acres co-star Pat Buttram (Mr. Haney) was a regular on Crane's Morning Show for the last several years of the program. Crane kept doing his Radio Show for the full first season of "Hogan's Heroes". His thinking was that if the TV Show were to be canceled, he'd still have a job. He started acting around the age of 33, while still doing the Morning Radio Show.

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 Hogan's Heroes (1965). After the cancellation of that show, he was in several TV movies and two Disney films.

Crane was basically bankrupt during the mid- to late-1970's and, shortly after his murder, his estate would come into millions of dollars from a new syndication deal for Hogan's Heroes (1965), which he owned a small part of.

He also got his own show in 1975, but it was canceled after only a few months. With his career not going too well, Bob started doing dinner theater plays.

His last movie appearance was in the Walt Disney movie, Gus (1976), where he played an announcer named "Pepper Pot".

On January 25, 1978, Bob Crane taped an episode of Celebrity Cooks (1975) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Crane's episode aired several times in Canada throughout the winter and spring of 1978 without incident. A network affiliate in the U.S. then purchased several episodes of "Celebrity Cooks" to run in syndication in the U.S. Crane's episode was supposed to lead off the U.S. syndicated run of the series, and it was scheduled to air in the U.S. on July 10, 1978. Immediately after Crane's murder on June 29, the episode was canceled. It was reported that Crane made numerous jokes about death, which would have made the episode too eerily prophetic. However, this claim was based on one network representative's uncorroborated opinion made just days after Crane's murder. "Celebrity Cooks" has officially gone on record to refute this false claim about Crane's appearance made by this network representative. Those who were there on the day of taping claim no such eerie or inappropriate behavior occurred, and that Crane was one of their best guests.

2002: Was the subject of a "noise opera" by the experimental band Facetious (released on CD under the title "Raw Biscuits: The Bob Crane Story").

Originally buried at Oakwood Memorial Park in Chatsworth, Los Angeles County. In 2003, many years after his death, he was moved to the prestigious Westwood Memorial Park on Glendon Avenue in Los Angeles. His marker is very elaborate and beautiful with writings and photographs of him and his widow Sigrid Valdis. It is located in the middle of the memorial park.