This week marks the 45-year anniversary of the murder of television star Bob Crane.
(Side note: The calendar from 1978 is also the same here in 2023. That this blog topic’s publishing date was also on a Monday in 1978.)
Bob Crane, born July 13, 1928, in Waterbury, Connecticut, was previously a radio personality before he became an actor.
Crane was the leading man on the popular CBS comedy series Hogan’s Heroes. The World War II-based sitcom, set in Nazi Germany, was broadcast for six seasons from 1965 to 1971. The series received multiple Emmy nominations. Costar Werner Klemperer (1920–2000) won two Emmys, out of five nominations, for supporting actor. Crane was twice nominated for lead actor.
After the series ended, Crane’s career went into decline. He made attempts for a career comeback, including The Bob Crane Show, a short-lived midseason comedy series broadcast during the 1974–75 television season, on NBC. (It premiered in March 1975 and was done by June.) Numerous of his appearances were either in television films or guest performances on television series. Crane’s last screen role, in 1978, was as a guest star in an episode from the premiere season of ABC’s The Love Boat.
Crane took to the road. He performed dinner theater. He did this until his death at age 49.
On [Thursday,] June 29, 1978, Bob Crane—while on tour starring in Beginner’s Luck—was found dead in his Scottsdale, Arizona motel room. He was murdered. Bludgeoned to death.
The following videos give attention to Crane’s ugly end. The first was his last interview. The second was a television-news report on his demise. The third, published to YouTube a few years ago (and given an age-restricted branding) is about the case. (That video, which is titled “Murder in Scottsdale The Death of Bob Crane,” on the channel by Anil Roberts, cannot be accessed within having been embedded in this blog entry.) That third video, much about the investigation, touches on Crane’s private life. He was a sex addict (who filmed some of his encounters). That he kept company with the person suspected of being his killer, John Carpenter (1928–1998), who was prosecuted but acquitted in 1994. (Much of this is given, er, focus in Paul Schrader’s 2002 film Auto Focus, starring Greg Kinnear as Crane and Willem Dafoe as Carpenter.)
For anyone who well-remembers this period which marked the end for this actor, it is certainly disturbing. His life was. More than likely, he was. (Recommended read from a piece published in April 2023: Inside The Gruesome Murder Of Bob Crane, The ‘Hogan’s Heroes’ Star Who Was Beat To Death In 1978.)
I came across an interview, circa-late-1980s, with Werner Klemperer. (It is on YouTube. I watched it before writing this blog topic.) Klemperer was Tony-nominated in 1988 for a musical revival of Cabaret. In brief mentioning of Crane, a respectful Klemperer—who got along well with Crane—said that he thinks [thought] that it is one murder case which will never become solved.
★☆★☆★
Flashback 1973: The Friends from 50 Years Ago
My favorite decade of motion pictures was the 1970s. A personal favorite of mine was released on the same day as this blog topic. On [Tuesday,] June 26, 1973, Paramount Pictures released The Friends of Eddie Coyle.
This film was directed by Peter Yates (1929–2011). As a director, he helmed 1968’s box-office smash Bullitt (which won a film-editing Oscar for Frank P. Keller in response to one of cinema’s most memorable chase scenes). Yates would go on to direct and land 1979 and 1983 Oscar nominations, in his respective category, for Best Picture nominees Breaking Away (which won Best Original Screenplay for Steve Tesich) and The Dresser.
The Friends of Eddie Coyle is based on the 1970 debut novel by George V. Higgins (1932–1999). Higgins was an author, attorney, columnist, and professor. The screenplay was adapted by Paul Monash (1917–2003), who also produced the film. Monash was an Emmy-winning writer, film and television producer, and he created ABC’s Peyton Place (brought to the small screen from the controversial 1956 novel by Grace Metalious, 1924–1964).
The film casts, in the title role, Robert Mitchum (1917–1997). He is surrounded by a supporting cast which includes Peter Boyle (1935–2006), Richard Jordan (1937–1993), Steven Keats (1945–1994), Alex Rocco (1936–2015), and Joe Santos (1931–2016).
The superb score is by a future Oscar- and Grammy-winner Dave Grusin. He, coincidentally, also counts June 26 as a memorable day—it his birthday; born in 1934; and he turns 89.
Set in Boston, Massachusetts, Eddie Coyle is a gun-runner. Everyone in his circle—his “Friends”—are cons. Whether they are running guns or robbing banks…the film has plenty of double-crosses and setups. They are a duplicitous and cutthroat lot.
The Friends of Eddie Coyle ranks as one of the best screen performances delivered by Robert Mitchum. He landed only one Oscar nomination in his 50-plus-year career as a legendary star. That was a 1945 supporting nomination for The Story of G.I. Joe. Had Mitchum received a lead nomination, this would have been the performance to single out. He is totally convincing as an aging but resilient criminal whose luck may be running out.
My favorite of the film’s supporting performances, with backing Mitchum, is by Steven Keats. The actor served in Vietnam and, sorry to say, committed suicide at age 49 three years before Mitchum’s death at age 79. Keats was the leading man in director Joan Micklin Silver’s 1975 [19th-to-20th] turn-of-the-century drama Hester Street, which landed an Oscar nomination for leading lady Carol Kane, and he received an Emmy nomination in 1977 for the NBC miniseries Seventh Avenue. (Coincidentally, Friends costars Peter Boyle and Richard Jordan were also in the 1977 Emmy hunt: Boyle, for playing disgraced U.S. senator Joseph McCarthy in NBC’s Tail Gunner Joe; and Jordan, who was nominated in the same category as Keats, for the NBC miniseries Captains and the Kings.)
The Friends of Eddie Coyle is among numerous of the 1970s Neo Noir genre of motion pictures. This film is a compelling crime drama. It is brilliant.
(Side note: I also recommend 1975’s Night Moves, directed by Arthur Penn, and starring Gene Hackman as a private investigator. It is currently available on Criterion Channel’s streaming service. It recently was aired on Turner Classic Movies. According to Wikipedia, the film was released in New York, New York on June 11 and Los Angeles, California on July 2, 1975. Night Moves—costarring Jennifer Warren, Susan Clark, and early film credits for both Melanie Griffith and James Woods—is another smart Neo Noir crime thriller from this medium’s New Hollywood period.)
The following videos are a clips package by Criterion; an exquisitely acted scene by Mitchum and Keats; and two United Kingdom-based men (their channel is titled More Movies)—with a shared interest in delving into films from the 1970s—who discuss their appreciation for The Friends of Eddie Coyle.
★☆★☆★
Coming Up…
While The Jimmy Dore Show is taking a two-week hiatus, beginning this week, and will resume with livestreams on Monday, July 10, 2023…I will be using the weeks of [Mondays,] July 3 and 10, 2023 for Vacation Break-type blog topics. This is simply to give myself a breather from having to come up with a blog topic for all of the 52 weeks in a given year. This timing is deliberately synced with the first of the two weeks including Independence Day [July 4]. While some people do take vacations, and while some people do not (for at least one reason), I think it wise for me to do this for myself. I am sure readers understand. Regular topics will resume [Monday,] July 17, 2023.
