Was bob crane gay

Bob Crane's son recalls 'Hogan's Heroes' star's double existence, grisly 1978 murder

Bob Crane may have been established as American hero Colonel Hogan in the beat television show “Hogan’s Heroes,” but his son Robert Crane was all too familiar with his double life at home.

For years, rumors have lingered of the late Hollywood actor being a secret sex addict. He was murdered in 1978.

A recent paperback published by Robert, titled “Crane: Sex, Celebrity, and My Father’s Unsolved Murder,” attempts to shed some light on the guy behind the handsome, clean-cut persona.

Robert, Bob, Anne, Karen, and Debbie Crane poolside, 1964.(Courtesy of Robert Crane)

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“I was aware that he loved women and that he probably should not have been married,” Robert told Fox News. “He probably should have been a single guy because he was not the most faithful companion in the world. I was aware of that.

"I was aware of his affection of photography… When abode video came out in the mid-60s, he had to have one of the first units. I was aware of him taping women with their consent… It was always consensual. There was nothing hidden. There were no drugs. Both people wanted to be there.”

The Murder of Bob Crane: Who Killed the Star of Hogan's Heroes?

Robert Graysmith. Crown Publishing Community (NY), $20 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-517-59209-0

After a successful radio career, Bob Crane starred in the trendy comedy series Hogan's Heroes from 1965 to 1971. When he failed to launch another series, he toured in plays throughout the Southwest. Unknown to his fans, Crane, who had been raised a strict Catholic, became obsessed with sex when he gained TV stardom. That obsession, in the establish of photos and videos, effectively destroyed both of his marriages, according to Graysmith ( Zodiac ). In June of 1978 Crane was bludgeoned to death in a motel room in Scottsdale, Arizona. His constant companion was one John Carpenter, a video salesman. Graysmith agrees with the Scottsdale police that Carpenter was the killer, perhaps with a queer motive. The authorities finally secured an indictment in 1992, and the trial is pending. A carefully done analyze. (June)

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Reviewed on: 05/03/1993

Genre: Nonfiction

The Private Passions of Bob Crane

Oct. 18 -- Back in the 1960s — long before his name would be linked to sex addiction, X-rated videotapes, and a still-unsolved murder — Bob Crane, the star of the popular sitcom Hogan's Heroes, seemed like the ideal leading guy — handsome, clean-cut, likable.

As Col. Hogan, the wise-cracking public figure of a ragtag group of Allied soldiers plotting subterfuge during World War II from inside a Nazi POW camp, Crane made Hogan's Heroes one of the decade's best-loved and highest-rated comedies … and remained well-liked on and off the set.

"Bob was a very charming man," says Robert Clary, who played French POW Louis LeBeau. "He was easy to get along with — he never acted like, 'I'm making much more money than you do, and you better listen to what I'm saying.' That was wonderful."

His daughter Karen Crane recalls Bob as an ideal father. "My dad was an absolute representative family man at home," she says. "He was always swimming with us, playing with us. I just have wonderful memories of my dad and my years growing up."

Few suspected that beneath Bob Crane's glib exterior lay

A distinctly different caring of dad: Son reveals the highly sexual life, death of Bob Crane

At a very preliminary age, Scotty Crane knew a lot about sex. Even before he fully understood that his father, Bob Crane, had been a famous actor — star of the 1960s TV exhibit "Hogan's Heroes" — he knew what naked women looked like.

Twenty-seven years later, Scotty, now a Seattle-based radio DJ (co-star of KQBZ's "Shaken, Not Stirred"), prefers to center on other things learned from his dad. "My handwriting is identical to his," he says. "He taught me to play the drums. At the age of 4, he had me doing a tiny Scotty Crane radio show, just love him."

Bob Crane, who acted on Seattle stages during the 1960s and 1970s and had a second home on Bainbridge Island, was murdered, likely, with a camera tripod in 1978 in an Arizona apartment. Soon stories about his private animation began showing up in the push. Part of Scotty's inheritance were photos and videos his father had taken of himself and others — many others — having sex.

He's pored through all of it, culling what he believes best tells his father's story. With Bob Crane's killing still officially unsolved and two movies a