Bob Crane starred on the hit 1960's sitcom Hogan's Heroes, which ran in prime time from 1965 to 1971. The show was set in a World War II prisoner of war camp in Germany; Crane played Colonel Robert Hogan, a crafty POW leader who constantly outwitted his bumbling Nazi guards. (The cast included Richard Dawson as a British POW and John Banner as the buffoonish Sergeant Schultz.) Crane is also notorious for his mysterious death in Scottsdale, Arizona on 29 June 1978. Crane was found bludgeoned to death in his own motel room, and investigations revealed that Crane had a racy personal life which included a habit of videotaping his encounters with various women. Crane's friend John Carpenter (no relation to the movie director by that name) was later tried for the crime but found not guilty, and the murder remains officially unsolved.
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About Bob Crane Bob Crane was born Robert Edward Crane, in Waterbury, Connecticut, July 13th 1928. In 1942, at the age of 14, Bob began drumming for the Connecticut Symphony Orchestra. He was dismissed a year later because he was not considered "serious enough." Shortly thereafter, Bob began a radio career which eventually took him west to Los Angeles, and landed him in the morning drive slot at CBS powerhouse KNX, where he became known as "The King of the Los Angeles Airwaves." His show was not only wildly successful, it was revolutionary. Bob filled the broadcast booth with wry wit and charisma, not to… More mention drums, chimpanzees, and movie stars. His show was the number-one-rated morning show in Los Angeles, and Hollywood's biggest stars were regular guests on his show; Marilyn Monroe, Ronald Regan, Jayne Mansfield, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Hope, and Frank Sinatra, to name only a handful.
It was during his reign as "King of the L.A. Airwaves" that Crane captured the attention of CBS television executives. He began making guest appearances on The Dick Van Dyke Show, among others. Soon he landed himself a regular role on The Donna Reed Show as "Doctor David Kelsey." However, Crane's character was dropped after two seasons because executives decided the flirtatious Kelsey, was "too suggestive." Then, in 1965 Crane was offered the starring role in a highly controversial television pilot about Allied prisoners in a German P.O.W. camp. The pilot made a splash and Hogan's Heroes went on to become one of the most successful sitcoms of all time. In 1966 and 1967, Bob was nominated for two Emmy awards - this would be the peak of his career. In 1971, after a six-year run, CBS inexplicably canceled Hogan's Heroes when management decided to take the entire network in a different direction.
In the years following the cancellation of Hogan's Heroes, Bob stayed busy with various film and television appearances, including two Disney films, Superdad and Gus. Bob also remained a regular guest on the talk show circuit, as well as a guest host for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. In 1975 NBC gave Bob another shot at prime time with The Bob Crane Show. However, the show was not a critical success, and it was canceled after only thirteen episodes. For the next several years Bob showed his wares on the dinner theater circuit, acting and directing in Beginner's Luck, among other productions. It was during a 1978 run of Beginner's Luck that Bob Crane was brutally murdered in a Scottsdale hotel room.
About Werner Klemperer in his native Germany; his father was legendary orchestra conductor Otto Klemperer, and his mother was an opera singer. Otto_Klemperer fled the Nazis in 1933 and secured a job with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, then sent for his wife and children. Trained in piano, trumpet and violin, young Werner never lost his love of music, but decided in the early '40s to study acting at the Pasadena Playhouse. A naturalized American citizen, Klemperer worked in Maurice_Evans' special services unit in World War II, which gave Werner invaluable training before all sorts of audiences. Completely bald in his mid 20s, Klemperer had little problem securing theatrical work as older continental types, yet he yearned to broaden his range. To do this, he completely surpressed his German accent, the better to play such all-American character roles as the timorous press agent in the 1957 Cary_Grant film Kiss Them for Me (1957). The capture of fugitive Nazi official Adolph Eichmann in 1960 sparked a renewal of interest in war films, and soon Klemperer found himself playing Eichmann (whom he vaguely resembled) in the 1961 quickie Operation Eichmann. He also essayed a suitably slimy role as a former Nazi jurist on trial for war crimes in 1961's Judgment at Nuremberg. Try though he might to break free of the stereotype, Klemperer was stuck in Teutonic roles, so he resigned himself to recultivating his German accent and worked steadily throughout the '60s. A low-comedy variation of Klemperer's standard character made him an international TV favorite: the actor played the heel-clicking, imperious and incredibly stupid Colonel Klink on the popular sitcom Hogan's_Heroes from 1965 through 1970.
In the '70s, Klemperer returned to his musical roots as a sometimes performer at the Metropolitan Opera, and as a lecturer/narrator for dozens of American symphony orchestras. Having spent most of his professional career chilling the audience's marrow as the archetypal Nazi officer, Werner Klemperer was the soul of geniality as the jovial narrator of Prokofiev's +Peter and the Wolf at regional kiddie concerts of the '80s and '90s. Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
other notes Richard Dawson did stand up comedy when Hogan's Heroes ended, a few minor movies,
TV appearances; his popularity resurged when he assumed master of ceremonies for the syndicated
quizzer, "Family Feud." John Banner bumped around the TV comedy/variety show skit circuit,
most notably bits on "The Garry Moore Show" and "The Steve Allen Show," both CBS.
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