American actor (1926?2003)
Richard Crenna
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Crenna in a 1961 publicity photo
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Born
| Richard Donald Crenna
(
1926-11-30
)
November 30, 1926
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Died
| January 17, 2003
(2003-01-17)
(aged 76)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
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Education
| Belmont Senior High School
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Alma mater
| University of Southern California
(BA)
[1]
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Occupations
| |
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Years active
| 1937?2003
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Spouses
|
Joan Grisham
(
m.
1950;
div.
1955)
Penni Sweeney
(
m.
1959)
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Children
| 3
|
---|
|
|
Allegiance
|
United States
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Service/
branch
| United States Army
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Years of service
| 1945?1946
[2]
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Battles/wars
| World War II
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|
Richard Donald Crenna
(November 30, 1926 ? January 17, 2003) was an American actor.
[3]
Crenna starred in such motion pictures as
The Sand Pebbles
,
Wait Until Dark
,
[4]
Un Flic
,
Body Heat
,
[4]
the first three
Rambo
films
,
[3]
Hot Shots! Part Deux
,
[3]
and
The Flamingo Kid
. His first success came on radio in 1948 as high school student Walter Denton co-starring with
Eve Arden
and
Gale Gordon
in the series
Our Miss Brooks
. Crenna continued with the comedy in its 1952 move into television. He also starred as Luke McCoy in the television series
The Real McCoys
(1957?1963). In 1985, he won the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie
for his portrayal of the title role in
The Rape of Richard Beck
.
Mayflower: The Pilgrims Adventure, 1979 Starring Anthony Hopkins, Costarring Jenny Aguttter. Directed By George Schaefer Produced By Linda Yellen.
Early life
[
edit
]
Crenna was born November 30, 1926, in Los Angeles, the only child of Edith Josephine (nee Pollette), who was a hotel manager in Los Angeles, and Domenick Anthony Crenna, a pharmacist. His parents were both of Italian descent.
[5]
Crenna attended
Virgil Junior High School
, followed by
Belmont Senior High School
in Los Angeles, from which he graduated in 1944. He served in the U.S. Army during
World War II
, entering the Army in February 1945 and serving until August 1946.
[4]
[2]
After his Army service, Crenna attended the University of Southern California (USC), where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in English literature, and he was a member of the
Kappa Sigma
fraternity.
[4]
[6]
Acting career
[
edit
]
Radio years
[
edit
]
Crenna got his acting start on radio. In 1937, he had gained his first role, that of "the kid who did everything wrong" on
Boy Scout Jamboree
, a show on which he continued to appear occasionally in numerous roles until 1948. In the following year, he started playing Walter "Bronco" Thompson on
The Great Gildersleeve
, a role he played until 1954. He also originated the role of geeky Walter Denton on the radio comedy
Our Miss Brooks
alongside Eve Arden and Gale Gordon in 1948, and followed that role when the series moved to television in 1952.
[4]
He remained in that role until 1957. He appeared as a delivery boy in
My Favorite Husband
(episode "Liz Cooks Dinner for 12"), was Oogie Pringle on
A Date With Judy
(episode "The Competitive Diet", among several other episodes of the show) and as a teenager on
The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show
(episode "Watching the Neighbor's Daughter").
Early television years
[
edit
]
Crenna played Walter Denton on radio's
Our Miss Brooks
, remaining with the cast when it moved into television in 1952.
[4]
He remained with the show until it was canceled in 1957. He guest-starred on the
I Love Lucy
episode "The Young Fans", with
Janet Waldo
and on the 1955?56 anthology series
Frontier
,
[7]
in the lead role of the episode titled "The Ten Days of John Leslie". In 1955, he was the guest star on
The Millionaire
in the episode "The Ralph McKnight Story".
Crenna appeared in 1956 on the television series
Father Knows Best
in the episode "The Promising Young Man" as a young man named Woody. In 1957, he played a bank robber on
Cheyenne
(season 2, episode 19).
[7]
After
Our Miss Brooks
was canceled in 1957, Crenna joined the cast of the comedy series
The Real McCoys
as Luke McCoy; his co-star was
Walter Brennan
, who played Grandpa Amos McCoy. Crenna ultimately became one of the series's four directors during its six-year run (1957?1963).
[8]
1960s?1970s
[
edit
]
Credited as Dick Crenna, he directed eight episodes of
The Andy Griffith Show
during its 1963-1964 season, including "Opie the Birdman," "The Sermon for Today," and the Gomer Pyle-instigated "Citizen's Arrest." Crenna also directed "Henhouse," a 1977 episode of
Lou Grant
.
[4]
Crenna portrayed California state senator James Slattery in the series
Slattery's People
(1964?1965). For his acting in this series, he was twice nominated for an Emmy Award with slightly different names: for Outstanding Individual Achievements in Entertainment and for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series, both in 1965.
[9]
Crenna was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best TV Star ? Male for this same role in 1965. In 1966, Crenna played beside
Steve McQueen
as an ill-fated captain of an American gunboat in 1920s China in
The Sand Pebbles
.
[8]
During the 1970s, Crenna continued acting in Western dramas such as
The Deserter
,
Catlow
,
[10]
The Man Called Noon
,
[11]
and
Breakheart Pass
. He made a notable performance in Jean-Pierre Melville's final film
Un Flic
in 1972. In 1976, Crenna returned to weekly network television in the sitcom
All's Fair
, a political satire co-starring
Bernadette Peters
. Despite high expectations and good critical reviews, it lasted just a single season. The 1978 miniseries
Centennial
, based on
James A. Michener
's historical
novel of the same name
saw Crenna in the role of deranged religious fanatic Colonel Frank Skimmerhorn, who ordered the 1864 massacre of Colorado
American Indians
.
[7]
1980s?early 2000s
[
edit
]
Crenna won an
Emmy Award
[4]
and a
Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
nomination for his performance in the title role of the 1985 film
The Rape of Richard Beck
.
[12]
Crenna then played
John Rambo
's ex-commanding officer
Colonel Sam Trautman
,
[13]
in the first three
Rambo
films
, a role for which he was hired after
Kirk Douglas
left the production a day into filming. Trautman became the veteran actor's most famous role; his performance received wide critical praise.
[14]
He also spoofed the character in
Hot Shots! Part Deux
in 1993.
[15]
[16]
Crenna portrayed New York City Police Department lieutenant of detectives Frank Janek in a series of seven popular made-for-television films, beginning in 1988 and ending in 1994. The character of Janek had originally appeared in a series of novels by
William Bayer
.
[17]
[18]
Legacy
[
edit
]
Crenna was awarded a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame
at 6714 Hollywood Boulevard.
[19]
Illness and death
[
edit
]
Crenna died of
pancreatic cancer
at age 76 on January 17, 2003, in Los Angeles.
[20]
Filmography
[
edit
]
Film
[
edit
]
Television
[
edit
]
Video games
[
edit
]
Year
|
Title
|
Role
|
Notes
|
2014
|
Rambo: The Video Game
|
Colonel Samuel "Sam" Trautman
|
character likeness / uncredited
|
Awards and nominations
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"The Real McCoys"
.
The Gettysburg Times
. February 24, 1962
. Retrieved
October 8,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
Richard Donald Crenna in the U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010, Ancestry.com
- ^
a
b
c
"Richard Crenna"
. Movies & TV Dept.
The New York Times
. 2015. Archived from
the original
on July 31, 2015
. Retrieved
April 20,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Kilgannon, Corey (January 19, 2003).
"Richard Crenna, Veteran Actor, Is Dead at 76"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
April 17,
2011
.
- ^
Martone, Eric (2016).
Italian Americans: The History and Culture of a People
. Santa Barbara, California:
ABC-CLIO
. p. 277.
ISBN
978-1-61069-994-5
.
- ^
"Prominent Alumni"
.
Kappa Sigma Fraternity
. Retrieved
March 2,
2018
.
- ^
a
b
c
Lentz III, Harris M. (2004).
Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2003
. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. p. 92.
ISBN
0-7864-1756-0
.
- ^
a
b
McLellan, Dennis (January 19, 2003).
"Richard Crenna, 75; Actor Made Transition From Comedy to Drama"
.
Los Angeles Times
. Retrieved
March 2,
2018
.
- ^
"Slattery's People"
.
Television Academy
. Retrieved
March 2,
2018
.
- ^
Greenspun, Roger
(October 21, 1971).
"Catlow' Pits Crenna Against Brynner"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
March 2,
2018
.
- ^
Weiler, A. H.
(September 25, 1973).
"The Screen: Double Bill:' The Man Called Noon' and 'Triple Irons' The Casts"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
March 2,
2018
.
- ^
Hal Erickson
(2015).
"The Rape of Richard Beck"
. Movies & TV Dept.
The New York Times
. Archived from
the original
on April 27, 2015
. Retrieved
April 20,
2015
.
- ^
Maslin, Janet
(October 22, 1982).
"FIRST BLOOD"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
March 2,
2018
.
- ^
Drawing First Blood
.
First Blood
DVD: Artisan. 2002.
- ^
McKerrow, Steve (May 21, 1993).
"
'Hot Shots! Part Deux': Laughter's better the second time around"
.
The Baltimore Sun
. Retrieved
March 2,
2018
.
- ^
Johnson, Malcolm (May 21, 1993).
"Sheen Turns Rambo in 'Hot Shots!'
"
.
Hartford Courant
. Retrieved
March 2,
2018
.
- ^
Clark, Kenneth R. (November 6, 1988).
"Crenna's Janek Is Back, But Not In A Series ? Yet"
.
Chicago Tribune
. Retrieved
March 2,
2018
.
- ^
Sandler, Adam (March 28, 1994).
"The Forget Me Not Murders"
.
Variety
. Retrieved
March 2,
2018
.
- ^
McLellan, Dennis (January 19, 2003).
"Richard Crenna ? Hollywood Star Walk"
.
Los Angeles Times
. Retrieved
March 2,
2018
.
- ^
"Crenna dies at 76"
.
Variety
. January 19, 2003.
Archived
from the original on April 14, 2018
. Retrieved
March 2,
2018
.
External links
[
edit
]
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1953?1975
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1976?2000
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2001?present
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International
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National
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People
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Other
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