Portrait of Bob Crane

Birthday profile

Bob Crane

Bob Crane, American actor (died 1978)

Born
July 13, 1928
Died
June 29, 1978
Zodiac sign
Cancer
Birth year
1928

About Bob Crane

Robert Edward Crane (July 13, 1928 – June 29, 1978) was an American actor, drummer, radio personality, disc jockey and star of the CBS sitcom Hogan's Heroes. Crane was a drummer from age 11, and began his entertainment career as a radio personality, beginning in Hornell, New York, and later in Connecticut. He then moved to Los Angeles, where he hosted the number-one rated morning radio show. In the early 1960s, Crane moved into acting, eventually landing the lead role of Colonel Robert Hogan in Hogan's Heroes. The series aired from 1965 to 1971, and Crane received two Emmy Award nominations. Crane's career declined after Hogan's Heroes. He became frustrated with the few roles that he was being offered and began performing in dinner theater. In 1975 he returned to television with the NBC series The Bob Crane Show, but the series received poor ratings and was cancelled after thirteen weeks. Afterward, Crane returned to performing in dinner theater and also appeared in occasional guest spots on television. Crane was found bludgeoned to death in his Scottsdale, Arizona, apartment while on tour in June 1978 for a dinner theater production of Beginner's Luck. In the 1990s his friend John Henry Carpenter was tried for the murder but was acquitted, and the case remains officially unsolved. Crane's previously uncontroversial public image suffered due to the violent nature of his death and posthumous revelations about his personal life. Robert Edward Crane (July 13, 1928 – June 29, 1978) was an American actor, drummer, radio personality and disc jockey known for starring in the CBS sitcom Hogan's Heroes. In early 1978, Crane taped a travel documentary in Hawaii and recorded an appearance on the Canadian afternoon cooking show Celebrity Cooks; neither aired in the U.S.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Bob Crane timeline

  1. Robert Edward Crane (July 13, 1928 – June 29, 1978) was an American actor, drummer, radio personality and disc jockey known for starring in the CBS sitcom Hogan's Heroes.
  2. In early 1978, Crane taped a travel documentary in Hawaii and recorded an appearance on the Canadian afternoon cooking show Celebrity Cooks; neither aired in the U.S.

The world when Bob Crane was born

Bob Crane was born in 1928. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1928

  • #1 song"Makin' Whoopee" – Eddie Cantor
  • Top movieSteamboat Willie (first Mickey Mouse)
  • Best-selling bookLady Chatterley's Lover – D.H. Lawrence

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentKnute Rockne's "Win one for the Gipper" speech
  • Top headlineHerbert Hoover elected president
  • Technology milestonePenicillin discovered by Alexander Fleming
  • Defining fadMickey Mouse mania
  • Notable inventionSliced bread
  • World population2.07 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderCalvin Coolidge
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • U.S. population120.5M

1928 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Bob Crane's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19282026
Gas$0.21$3.45/gal
Average home$6,200$435,000
Average income$3,800$67,500
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.02$0.73
Population120.5M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, IMDb, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.