What a great interview. I have a special admiration for Bob. I was so lucky to spend a few hours with him and his wife Sigrid in 1971 when I was 11 years old. I was living in Melbourne, Australia at the time and Bob was invited to come out from America and appear as a guest on a Television Awards program, and my father worked for the company that looked after all the international guests. I was a huge Hogan's Heroes fan and I'll never forget it. It was after they had spent a few days in Melbourne, my father had some business to do with Bob and asked if it would be ok to bring me and my brother along to his hotel to meet him and his wife. He was really gracious and we even ended up driving them both to the airport to catch their flight back to the States. Great memories. I always thought my Dad had the best job in the world.
Great story mate. I live in Clayton and l loved watching Hogan’s heroes after school. Must of been the Logies he came out for. It’s sad that his murder went unjustified. I’ve seen Auto Focus and he didn’t deserve that fate. Do you have any other stories of celebs coming to Melbourne ?
@@Paul77ozee Yes, it was the Logies. We met a lot of celebs in those days. Henry Winkler (the Fonz), Marty Milner (Adam 12), Lee Marvin, John Wayne, Florence Henderson (the Brady Bunch), Muhammad Ali and Sammy Davis to name a few. We also had Mike Farrell (BJ from Mash) and his wife over for dinner at our house one time. Rupert Murdoch was my Dad's boss in those days, and he too would come over to dinner from time to time when he was in Melbourne. I remember one night when Rupert Murdoch came to dinner. I was about 14 yo and I was really into the conspiracy around the JFK assassination and I had recently seen an old photograph of him meeting JFK in the Oval Office. I told my dad that I had wanted to ask him about his experience meeting JFK while we were having dinner, but I was too shy. I went to bed and about 10 minutes later there was a knock at my door and it was Rupert. He came in and sat on my bed and told me the story and talked about his meeting with JFK for about 20 minutes. I was very lucky, I had a great childhood. commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:President_John_F._Kennedy_Visits_with_Rupert_Murdoch,_Publisher_of_News_Ltd._of_Australia.jpg
He was a smooth talker but also a shallow sexual-addict, which is how he got tangled up with his likely murderer in the first place. A revealing biopic called "Auto Focus" (2002) shows his dark side. He was completely unfaithful to his wives.
How long after this interview was he murdered ? I know you was into some kinky stuff with John Carpenter. Videotaping having sex with women. If you look at the original news video from Arizona it shows a blonde woman with huge Boobs walking out of the apartment where he was killed. she discovered him dead She supposedly had a meeting with him. NO DOUBT !!!!!!
"...and Bob will be in Phoenix for the next few weeks...." Unfortunately his life ended shortly after this interview was recorded. This is a great find, an interesting interview and shows just why so many of us loved Bob Crane and were his fans. Thank you so much for posting this!
After the Pheonix run the play went to Scottsdale, Arizona at Windmill theatre, thats where he was killed, so not long after this, I was surprised he mentioned his current leading lady didn't work out, He had an affair with his leading lady in Scottsdale also, some have speculated her husband may have been involved in the murder.
@@glasshalffull8471 That could have easily been a possibility. It appeared though, that the murderer knew a lot about electronic devices, which John Carpenter, the accused did.
@@glasshalffull8471 Some husband was enraged by Bob's affair with his wife and seriously threatened him. I think this was a different woman than his costar. I also think the angry husband was in Texas at the time Bob was in Arizona.
Yeah it seemed like he got kind of corrupted by that one guy and kept trying to separate from him. People can be complicated as to how a guy once known as a church going family man got into stuff he previously had no record of being associated with.
If Crane were not murdered, he may have had a career resurgence in the 80s. He would have been a great choice in a sitcom like Cheers. He could have snagged a role in one of the many Prime Time Soaps of the era or perhaps Hill Street Blues or St Elsewhere as he could do drama as well.
Thank You For Posting This. I'm Big Bob Crane Fan. This Is Chilling Because This is His Last Interview Before He Was Tragically Killed In Scottsdale Arizona. RiP Bob Crane 1928-1978. Your Are Sorely Missed.
Sex addiction was not identified nor understood as such in the late seventies. A pity that Crane did not get the chance to turn either his personal life or his career around, and that the Scottsdale PD botched the horrific crime scene. A talented man's life was cut short and his family, friends and fans were left without real closure. It's a sad legacy no one deserves to leave behind.
Based only on the things that Graysmith wrote in his book, I think that the guy they put on trial did it. Fourteen years had passed since the murder, though; the evidence was degraded, and they couldn't prove guilt. The guy died of a heart attack 4 years later.
@MisterKoolI have a biography of him written by a relative, a cousin I think, in which his problems with sex were mentioned and discussed only in the last chapter. According to the author, Bob Crane had become friends with the manager of the Windmill Theater and used to talk to him about those problems. He said that sometimes he didn't even know why he did what he did. The manager was in the process of looking for a therapist in southern California who was skilled in treating sex addiction when Crane was killed.
He’s not. He’s remembered as Col Hogan. Most people don’t even know he died. Especially people not in the USA. Hogan’s Heroes has aired in about fifty countries.
@@thefonzkissyeah I’d agree most I know don’t really know about that, and I can watch the show and still forget that. It’s sort of unpleasant to know but he’s far from the only celeb with a tragic or brutal thing happening. Phil Hartmen was killed by his own wife, the lady from that one Harrison ford movie drove her car into a building at high speeds almost killing multiple people, and obviously a lot of rappers have been shot. Also when you hear the Johnny Depp stuff and the will smith stuff you realize a ton of other celebrities could have had equal or worse situations than crane and it just wasn’t ever found out. Hollywood particularly during the drug period had a lot going on and a lot of swinging most likely and I mean even other famous figures like John Kennedy slept with every woman he could basically. And there’s a ton of stories of others sleeping with both genders like major celebrities and it’s hard to tell how much is true. Or also someone like Richard Pryor his story also was brutal and I think he caught himself on fire at one point and I’ve heard that even Bruce Lee had drug issues though I’m not sure to what extent or if he was is it trying it or what. And then obviously Harrison ford slept with his costar when he was married it just didn’t seem that uncommon unfortunately. The only thing that seemed to add to it was the filming of stuff which I don’t know if that was a new thing to film stuff or what and also sex tapes have come out about others so it’s not like he was the only one doing that either and many others maybe just didn’t come out and many were caught at that sex island thing so that also seems like it wasn’t that out of the ordinary in that world but I think that element is what made it seem weirder as the sleeping with people all over seems pretty par for the course in Hollywood particularly during the drug hippie period.
Plp forget he was one of the original radio DJs and his work on radio was genius and he went from small stations on East coast to the Biggest Los Angeles breakfast radio program over 15 years...along the way he introduced some incredible technical ideas to integrate live advertising in ways it had never been done previously.....and he was a great drummer ....all before he hit TV....if that not a success I don't know what is!
Loved Bob in all his roles, including the ones he did for Disney (Superdad, Gus) where he was willing to play silly, buffoonish characters. His personal life may not have been all sunshine & laughs, but who among us does? RIP Bob.
When he mentioned people still looking at him as Col. Hogan, I could identify with that. I saw part of Superdad where some young punks were threatening his character, and I'm screaming at the TV screen, "Come on, you can handle them, you faced down the Gestapo, you can put away these punks!"
@@FreyaTait That's the problem when your first major role is with something super popular. Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who played Harry Potter, had the same issue. He got around it by doing several movies in which he played characters completely opposite from Harry Potter, including a skinhead.
Carol Ford's book (Bob Crane: the Definitive Biography) makes note of the affair that Bob Crane had with the original "Helga" in Hogan's Heroes' first season--Cynthia Lynn. Cynthia Lynn left the show after season one to salvage her marriage (although it ended in divorce anyway). She had heard that Bob Crane was in Scottsdale doing "Beginner's Luck" and tried to contact him to rekindle their relationship and left a message with a cast member for him to contact her. However, this was right before his murder and he never received the message. When she found out he was murdered it haunted her for the rest of her life
@@FrauWilhelmKlink Cynthia Lynn was very much in love with him. I thought she and Bob made a better match than Sigrid Valdis, but the heart wants what it wants.
@@MoonOverYou No, I agree. It's difficult when your heart wants something other than what you do. You could tell she was in love with Bob by the way she spoke of him. Even their on-screen chemistry was, in my opinion, better than Bob's and Sigrid's. It was much more natural and organic.
Did anyone notice when Bob said "Sex Maniac" he sort of smiles & looked like "I don't do that sort of thing" "They won't show combat surgery... There's no comedy in that. 😊🙂" - Bob
I remember there was a pilot in the late 1970s that was for a TV sit-com about the Vietnam War. I recall it being styled something like MASH with one of the characters asking " Are the Beach Boys breaking up? ". Bob still could have played a military guy, or hosted a TV interview show.
Chilling...”Not a bad life” my friend said after seeing the Crane movie “Autofocus”...”I don’t see what the big deal was” he added....referring to Bob and the swinging life...he obviously pissed someone off...as mentioned he had no complaints...he was bedding and filming an endless supply of dinner theater fans! Fascinating story ...thanks for sharing.
@@nataliep.9047 I saw about the first ten minutes of "Auto-Focus." It made me want to throw up. Greg Kinnear bore no resemblance to Bob Crane. Blond hair; too skinny; his eyes are blue (Bob had brown eyes and a much better build) and his voice is too high. I switched it off because I didn't want to remember Bob Crane that way, in a fictionalized version of his life and murder. That piece of garbage should have been left in its entirety on the cutting room floor.
I could see him doing a Phil Donahue kind of talk show or even Jerry Springer. Intelligent, witty with a gregarious smile. I bet he could get people to say and do almost anything.
Back in the 1970s, my aunt met Crane at one of his dinner theater roles. My aunt asked for his autograph, but she didn't have any paper. She did have an old,,,"red seal" $2 dollar bill. Crane signed it too! $2 bills are considered bad luck. And Bob sure had bad luck. Years ago she showed me the bill.
A genius performer, heading up an ensemble cast of one of the funniest shows in TV history. A flawed individual, who isn't, a charmer and had a great screen presence. Sadly missed, he should have lived longer. RIP.
"Flawed," as in a sex-addict who heavily cheated on both his wives, videotaping a lot of it and collaborating with a deviant who probably killed him but got off. Beware of anyone who exudes charm, which is what actors are good at.
@@josephy.2707 That show was how I first heard the Stones' "Paint it Black" also, at about 10 years old or a bit younger. Such an awesome song and perfect theme for that series.
"My leading lady just didn't work out, for various reasons, ..." Very interesting, I wonder what that's all about... one can only wonder :) Seriously though, plenty of respect for the legendary Bob Crane, R.I.P.
According to Carol Ford's book (Bob Crane: the Definitive Biography) Bob Crane bought into the profit participation program for syndication royalties from Hogan's Heroes when it went off the air. However whatever profits he made from syndication of the show-got quickly "eaten up" by alimony, child support payments etc
Rewatch MASH and you will see constant bullying of each other, drinking on duty, and ridiculous sexual harassment and disrespect. I found it dreary at the time.
And he was struggling for money. If he had lived he was to receive $25 million on royalties from Hogan's success in Europe. As like Don Adams he chose to get paid less in return for part ownership of the show itself.
Very interesting clip , anyone know the day in june 78 this was filmed. Could of been just before his end. Was this from the phoenix local show "Open House" ?. Easy to see the way this guy could charm people, especially the ladies.
A clue is him at 4:20 talking about starting the play "last week" and having to change one of the actresses, "who just didn't work out." Joy Claussen replaced her, and had just joined the cast a couple of days before the murder. So this couldn't have been more than two or three days before Crane's death.
Beginner's Luck opened on June 6th. In this interview he says that it opened "last week," so it stands to reason this was recorded about two weeks before his murder (sometime between 6/11 - 6/18).
@@TrojanJustinI did some research actually he came to Phoenix as part of his tour on June 6,he started the tour a couple of weeks before he arrived in Arizona, so I am guessing that this interview was either on 6/12,13,or 14th.
I believe that Bob Crane's last TV appearance was on of all things a CBC Canadian cooking show called "Celebrity Cooks" with Bruno Gerusi. I think it was scheduled to be aired after his death but the CBC didn't broadcast it.
I've got all of hogans heros dvds and I like bobs drumming he's a very good drummer or was a very good drummer before!!!!!, R.I.P. BOB.CRANE sadly missed. 😢😢😢
We share the same birthday. His death anniversary is coming up and on that day, I will be the exact age he was when he was murdered. That’s a little eerie
Was a nice man , was not really for dramatic acting , but hogan’s heroes will always be one of my favorites.would of been a good talk show host or quiz master if he had lived . It’s a shame how he died
The episode of The Love Boat he mentioned just doing was actually pretty dramatic as he played a worker on the boat who realizes that one of the young ladies that has boarded is the daughter his character abandoned as a baby. The episode is on RU-vid. It's A great performance!
I think looking back at his mannerisms and his vices away from acting Charlie Sheen comes to mind as someone in Hollywood who is closely similar to who Bobby Crane was.
In terms of their behavior maybe somewhat. Crane tho was not a big drinker and never touched drugs, so that part was different. Charlie was and is still much more public about the way he's continued living his life whereas Bob's was a total secret, if an open one in Hollywood, till his murder.
Bob considered himself to be an eternal optimist. He talks as if he's happy with his life and how things have turned out since he left Hogan's Heroes. However, his body language in the later part of this interview, begs to tell a different story. The folding of both arms across his chest suggests he's creating a barrier in an attempt to block out an impending threat or undesirable circumstance. One thing is for certain; when a person has a nervous, negative or possible defensive attitude, he will fold his arms firmly on his chest. It's a strong signal that he feels threatened. It might even suggest he's trying to protect his own private persona from being revealed openly to the public. Just look at the sleazy motel he stayed at on the night of his untimely death. How he crosses his legs at the beginning of the interview which is not typically common amongst other men for that matter either. It can mean you're trying to build a fortress around yourself. Is he concerned about what might be potentially asked in the interview or worse yet, what could conceivably happen shortly thereafter, when he returns to his motel room. A very sad ending in the life of a once very talented TV star. Someone whom I'm sure each day was driven by his desire to artistically write and display his acting skills publicly before a live theatre audience.. Yet sadly driven more by his own darker obsession to film himself and others unknowingly in bed for his own perverted pleasure and private screenings amongst his sordid friends. His comical reference to the M*AS*H characters as "sex maniacs" shows how freely and openly he perceived the subject matter of sex in his everyday life. After "Hogan's Heroes,", Bob Crane could've gone on and become a financial mogul as a high profile talk show host instead of struggling financially like he did as a dinner show attraction. Bob clearly by now has become a washed up TV actor occasionally appearing with other "has been actors" in recycled episodes of "Love American Style" re written for the series "Love Boat." Certainly earning wealth and critical acclaim were not two of his main obsessions in life. Yet obviously he needed more money to pay off his continuously rising debts. He loved to gamble, consort with criminals and womanize when given any opportunity. However, not even that was excitement enough to satisfy his insatiable desire to make amateur porn. Video filmed without the permission of his unsuspecting participants. It's what he held in secrecy, that which would be a disgrace and embarrassment to others if it ever got out, is what ultimately ended his life prematurely. Hopefully someday his family will find the closure they so desperately deserve. However, if we've waited this long already. It's doubtful indeed anyone of us of will ever find out the truth behind who really killed Col Hogan. Who Knows? Maybe in the end, we're better off not knowing.
Bob sat like that during the run of Hogan’s Heroes too, though. It might have just been a comfortable position for him. While I do agree crossed arms normally indicate a defensive position or attitude, that’s not always the case. Some people - such as myself - cross their arms over their chest even when they’re happy. Could be a habit that stuck with Bob after 6 years of playing Colonel Hogan, who was often seen with his arms wrapped around his torso. We’ll never know.
Nice take on a complicated man except one thing. He didn’t film his sexual escapades in secret. Everybody participating was well aware of the gigantic enormous video equipment in the room. The photos available to see on line show women smiling at the camera. There are people other than Mr. Crane who enjoy exhibitionistic behavior. They seemed to have found each other in this case. The body language in this interview might be considered revealing. Crossed arms and legs absolutely are an indication of a need to defend oneself. I think it comes from all of the talk about his failures and being type casted. I’ve seen many actors and singers strike a similar pose when asked about past career failures. However Bob Crane was nobodies fool. He was quite an intelligent and experienced I individual who had already interviewed hundreds of people and knew the world of show business very well. He knew thee psychology of the viewer and listeners. Crossing his arms is something he did frequently in Hogans Heroes. Maybe he knew this would make him look more like his on screen persona? Maybe not. All in all I don’t honk he did a great job in this interview and the interviewer could have done a better job by asking more questions relevant to his dinner theatre success.
This was filmed at a public television station at ASU in Tempe the 2nd week of June 78. Wouldn't surprise me if Bob stopped by the strip clubs along Scottsdale road on his way back to the Winfield apartments.
His folded arms in the interview gave us all an early indication of his nervousness during the interview and he only slowed down his speech when he came to a topic instead he felt most comfortable with that of course being sex.. You're very astute to have pick up on that observation - Mr. Mack Crane.
This play gave him the opportunity to travel around and meet the ladies who he would later bed and take pictures/videos of. Nice cover for a sex addict.
OK wait....he said that the lead actress was replaced in the AZ play and being replaced by Joy Claussen. So was Victoria Ann Berry the woman that was replaced or was she just an extra or ?
Was just wondering, if there is maybe any chance, someone at the police being involved in the crime or being the killer. Was he maybe having sex with a woman of one of them? At least this would answer some questions about poor treatment of evidence over and over again and give an explanation for someone aware enough of preparing Carpenters car and framing him then. If Carpenter killed him, I don't think he was remembering doing it and he was really convinced he didn't. Whatever the schizophrenic reasons for this might be. His behaviour without getting lost in contradictions plus volunteering even for a lie detector test, hardly leave another option, in case he really is the one.
I always believed two people were involved in his murder and that John Carpenter had an accomplice which is why they never found the murder weapon or they could have disposed of it in the desert. After all there were blood stains on the passenger side. Carpenter was the lookoit and the actual perp got away. The police never checked out Richard Dawson either
DNA testing showed the spots were not Bob Crane's blood. John Carpenter was an unusual person and personality and I think the police ganged up on him because they couldn't put the pieces together. He even offered to take a lie detector test and the police turned him down. I've read Graysmith's book many times and frequently have wondered if Brenda Broyles may have been the murderer. Many suspicioius statements and activities on her part.
That’s sort of a huge assumption, just because that factored elsewhere doesn’t mean it automatically does everywhere. Actors got changed around all the time many shows started with one actor in a role that then got changed nearly immediately. Also a lot of guys dint wear wedding rings, some don’t want tan lines there some just don’t like wearing anything on their hands and only wear it at events and also many women do the same thing. Actually quite a few people I’ve known I believe don’t have their rings on all the time.
He was a sex freak who happened to be on a hit TV show. He was a good entertainer, but he destroyed his family and treated women horribly to get his rocks off. When one plays with fire going to get burned, sometimes to the point of unrecognizable. He was a creep.
He makes it sound like the dinner theatre was a great thing, when he had to do those plays as a last resort after he wasn't wanted for other venues after his major sex scandal.
No he was hired for other stuff and did some films for Disney. It from what I heard damaged his reputation but many celebs and gotten involved in stuff and still acted. Also sometimes you just get typecast and struggle that also happens a lot. But he could have done a lot of roles and still did some films. It damaged his reputation but I hadn’t heard that it totally stopped his ability to work. And also some celebrities can’t get any work at all after their show goes away or they hit a dry spot so compared to quite a few other celebrities he was still working a lot and was still the equivalent of a millionaire at the end of his life adjusted for inflation although just barely. He did Disney films in the seventies and others so I don’t know if it was all just related to that or if like many actors he just struggled to get parts but it probably didn’t help to have his reputation damaged. He probably could have recovered his image if he had got that other guy away from him. Maybe the new decade would have brought roles fitted for him it feels like he could have done a lot of stuff from Disney to military stuff to any wise craving bugs bunny type character as well as just hosting things.
