ABOUT BOB CRANE
“He turned that character (Colonel Hogan) into an icon of American culture.”
— American National Biography
“Bob was a one man show—he asked anything that came to his mind or discussed things—and then in the middle of it—he would turn to his drums and start playing the drums on the side, cause he was a great drummer you know.”
— Monty Hall
“I must say that when Bob Crane puts his mind to something, we are certainly winding up with thrills aren’t we!?”
— Jerry Lewis
“You’re it Bob Crane…You’re our next leading man. You’ll be bigger than Peck, bigger than Spencer Tracy, bigger than anybody out here. I love you.”
— Jonathan Winters
“He hauled you right in with him, and you had fun with Bob Crane, and that’s what made him so successful on radio.”
— George Nicholaw, General Manager, KNX–CBS Radio
FROM BOB CRANE
“I wanted to be a musician, a drummer, and studied and practiced my head off for 20 years. And if you ask anyone today in show business they will tell you that I never made it.”
“I joke. It’s a comic’s defense. If they get you in a corner—throw a funny line and run!”
“I’m not well educated—I’m afraid of intellectual snobs. People bring up cultural subjects and I have to walk away like a dummy. Tony Randall scared me. He talked about opera—Puccini! All I know is Dave Brubeck. I didn’t open my mouth for fifteen minutes!”
“Mike Douglas’s producer said I was ‘pushy.’ I was pushy. I know it. I try not to be pushy, but I come on too strong. I exhaust people. I take over, I don’t really mean to, but I dominate. A tornado is let loose. It happens when I’m interviewed. On The Merv Griffin Show, Merv looked as if he’d been hit by a flounder.”
“One of the wonderful things about our relationship is that we didn’t start out as lovers. We started out being good friends and confidants. I got to know her [Patricia Crane] for all the other attributes she has, and she got to know me, she discovered, to her amazement that Hollywood actor or not, I was family oriented. I love kids. I love family living.”
“I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, two out of three ain’t bad.”