A biography for Bob Cranehasn’t been written yet.
“I'm not slim and trim like Johnny Carson.”
“I liked Art Linkletter's way of conducting an interview while still keeping it light and I even admired Jack Bailey, host of 'Queen for a Day.' Particularly fascinating was how he could listen to all those awful tales of woe, then smile and slap someone on the back and declare her Queen for a Day.”
“Hard comedy goes for the fences. It's also what you might call take-a-risk comedy because if you don't hit a home run, you might strike out. It's either a belly laugh or it's no go and no show.”
“The day of the 'Partridge Family' type of show and the 'Brady Bunch' is long gone. The old 'Ozzie and Harriet' days are over.”
“Look, I love to sit in with small groups and play the drums. What's wrong with that?”
“People have a weird idea of what happens with a successful series. After it's over they think we just retire to green pastures. Well, it ain't so.”
“When I blow a line at Disney I say, 'Oh fudge,' instead of what is really on mind.”
“I had an idea that I wanted show which would keep me happy for five years. I tried to figure how I'd feel if I had to do the part for five years. This one 'Hogan's Heroes' filled the bill.”
“I made it a point to study the people in the business I admired most.”
“The public thinks there is a lot of money in 'residuals,' but it really isn't that good.”
“I feel the really big stars are in movies, not TV.”
“After two years with 'Donna,' they offered me a new contract, but I said no. I didn't want to be the fourth man through the door any more.”
“Unless you do an Archie and Edith Bunker, there's not much left In TV for husband-wife conversation.”
“I had done as much as I could on radio and I was too young to die. So I went on television.”
“You make more money in dinner theaters than on Broadway.”
“I own half a million dollars worth of-houses in California. That's a lot for an unemployed actor.”
“They asked me to test for 'Please Don't Eat the Daisies,' but I didn't want any part of that scene. After all, I get enough of that family thing at home.”
“People look upon a person in TV as someone they can see for nothing. This is carried over in casting pictures. They're afraid; they will not cast a TV lead to be a lead in a movie.”
“Someone like Van Johnson can spend 52 weeks a year on the road because he doesn't have a family.”
“I remember Jerry Lewis said once that when small, he was the nutty kid in his neighborhood and I was the same way.”