Sept. 17, 2024

Sex Fame and Murder: The Bob Crane Story

Show Notes
Transcript

Sex, Fame, and Murder: The Bob Crane Story

Ever heard of Hogan’s Heroes? A lighthearted sitcom about POWs outsmarting the Nazis sounds odd now, but in the 1960s, it was a hit. And no one benefited more than its star, Bob Crane. He skyrocketed to fame as the charming Colonel Hogan, but behind the scenes, things were far from picture-perfect. Bob’s obsession with women, his descent into homemade pornography, and his complicated friendship with John Carpenter led to a tragic end. Found brutally murdered in 1978, Bob’s death remains one of Hollywood’s most infamous cold cases. In this episode, we dive deep into Bob’s rise and fall, the controversial investigation, and the lingering suspicions surrounding those closest to him. Was it his best friend? His estranged wife? We’ll untangle the mystery and let you decide.

Thank you so much for listening to and supporting 10 Minute Murder!

SUBSCRIBE to 10 Minute Murder.
Have friends that also like true-crime stories?
SHARE this podcast with them!
CONNECT on social media to read about new episodes and see visuals that go along with the story.

10minutemurder.com

email: joe@10minutemurder.com
_______
Follow 10 Minute Murder-

Facebook:
https://facebook.com/10MMpodcast

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/10minutemurder/

TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@10minutemurder

Threads:
https://www.threads.net/@10minutemurder

Youtube:
https://youtube.com/channel/UCkJLUCEZlkn9In3AA46RVxw

If you have a request for a case to be featured on 10 Minute Murder, or have any questions for Joe (the host), please feel free to send them to the email address above.

*******

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/10-minute-murder--4603604/support.

WEBVTT

1
00:00:39.640 --> 00:00:43.240
The nineteen sixties, every channel on the TV had some

2
00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:47.479
sort of cheesy comedy ripe with ill timed laugh tracks

3
00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:51.159
and poorly executed jokes. But there was one comedy series

4
00:00:51.200 --> 00:00:54.840
that dared to stand out from the rest Hogan's heroes.

5
00:00:55.240 --> 00:00:58.759
There was a CBS series loosely based on popular World

6
00:00:58.759 --> 00:01:02.479
War Two movies like The Great Escape, during which a

7
00:01:02.560 --> 00:01:06.680
colorful cast of American prisoners of war would constantly outsmart

8
00:01:06.680 --> 00:01:09.680
the leaders of the Third Reich. It may sound like

9
00:01:09.719 --> 00:01:12.359
there wouldn't be that far a series like this could go,

10
00:01:12.840 --> 00:01:15.879
but the writers and producers managed to string this concept

11
00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:20.640
out for a whopping six seasons, making almost everyone involved

12
00:01:20.640 --> 00:01:24.000
in the show a huge success, But very few of

13
00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:26.920
them were quite as successful as the show's top dog,

14
00:01:27.319 --> 00:01:31.879
Bob Crane. Bob played Colonel Robert Hogan, the leader of

15
00:01:31.959 --> 00:01:36.000
this ragtag team of inmates, who was always popular with

16
00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:40.239
the ladies, and for Bob Crane, playing Colonel Robert Hogan

17
00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:44.439
was the highlight of his career. Bob had first started

18
00:01:44.439 --> 00:01:47.480
out in the military and then as a radio host

19
00:01:47.640 --> 00:01:51.359
on The Bob Crane Show. There he mingled with celebrities

20
00:01:51.400 --> 00:01:54.640
and rubbed shoulders with producers, which got him interviews with

21
00:01:54.680 --> 00:01:57.079
some of the top names in the industry at the time.

22
00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:02.439
Marilyn Monroe, Bob Hope, Charlieton Heston all appeared on Bob's show,

23
00:02:02.959 --> 00:02:05.640
but it was when he interviewed TV writer Carl Reiner

24
00:02:05.799 --> 00:02:09.840
that his luck really turned around. Carl Reiner offered Bob

25
00:02:09.879 --> 00:02:12.599
Crane a part on The Dick van Dijk Show. It

26
00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:14.599
was only a one off deal where Bob would play

27
00:02:14.599 --> 00:02:17.159
the role of a cheating husband, but he did get

28
00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:19.840
Bob a foot in the door. After proving that he

29
00:02:19.879 --> 00:02:22.680
had acting skills to do the job, Bob was offered

30
00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:25.759
a permanent role playing a dentist on The Donna Reed Show.

31
00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:29.439
It was then, with his fame building and his star rising,

32
00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:33.039
that Bob's agent came across the script for Hogan's Heroes

33
00:02:33.360 --> 00:02:37.280
and passed it along to Bob. He initially hated the script.

34
00:02:37.719 --> 00:02:41.199
Up until then, he'd strictly been involved in comedic acting roles,

35
00:02:41.439 --> 00:02:43.840
and he had no intentions of acting in a serious

36
00:02:43.919 --> 00:02:47.479
drama based on sirious world history events like the World

37
00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:51.919
Wars and the Third Reich. Bob's son Roberts, later writing

38
00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:54.400
about his father, said that his agent then managed to

39
00:02:54.439 --> 00:02:58.439
turn Bob's perception of the series around quote, Bob, what

40
00:02:58.520 --> 00:03:01.800
are you talking about? This is a comedy. These are

41
00:03:01.960 --> 00:03:05.879
the funny Nazis. Many would forgive Bob for being confused

42
00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:08.560
about the tone of the series. World War II had

43
00:03:08.560 --> 00:03:11.639
only ended twenty years before he was sitting there reading

44
00:03:11.680 --> 00:03:15.599
the manuscripts for Hogan's Heroes. For most people, the war

45
00:03:15.879 --> 00:03:18.400
and the hardships that came with it were still within

46
00:03:18.479 --> 00:03:21.280
living memory, and that was definitely true for the cast.

47
00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:24.360
Many of them were Jewish, some of them had lost

48
00:03:24.400 --> 00:03:27.479
friends and loved ones during the war and the prison camps.

49
00:03:27.919 --> 00:03:30.719
Some of them had been real prisoners of war themselves

50
00:03:31.159 --> 00:03:33.840
and still had the tattoos to prove it. It was

51
00:03:33.879 --> 00:03:37.360
a real concern that making a lighthearted comedic series about

52
00:03:37.400 --> 00:03:41.240
such a tragic and difficult time was too much too soon,

53
00:03:41.919 --> 00:03:44.639
But Bob and his other cast mates took a huge

54
00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:48.800
leap of faith and had paid off. Hogan's Heroes was

55
00:03:48.840 --> 00:03:55.960
an overnight sensation, and Bob Crane became a bonafide Hollywood star. Money, fame,

56
00:03:56.039 --> 00:04:00.319
and notoriety gave Bob everything he wanted right at his fingertips,

57
00:04:00.639 --> 00:04:04.759
and it allowed him to indulge in his biggest vice women.

58
00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:08.879
Bob absolutely loved women, so much so that, looking at

59
00:04:08.919 --> 00:04:12.680
it from today's twenty twenty four perspective, you could assume

60
00:04:12.759 --> 00:04:16.879
that Bob was a sex addict. He collected pictures of women,

61
00:04:17.319 --> 00:04:21.240
especially the ones he had sexual relationships with. He was

62
00:04:21.319 --> 00:04:24.959
already married to his high school sweetheart and Tersian, and

63
00:04:25.079 --> 00:04:28.279
had three children with her, but that did not stop him.

64
00:04:28.519 --> 00:04:31.759
With his new found fame and success, women began throwing

65
00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:34.959
themselves at Bob, and Bob found that he couldn't say no.

66
00:04:35.439 --> 00:04:38.639
He stored his growing pile of nude pictures and pornography

67
00:04:38.680 --> 00:04:41.639
in his home, in his car, and in his changing

68
00:04:41.720 --> 00:04:43.959
room at work, where he was known to take them

69
00:04:43.959 --> 00:04:46.639
out and show them to his co stars. There were

70
00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:51.240
no drugs, no coercion, none like that. His son Robert explained,

71
00:04:51.519 --> 00:04:54.920
women just liked him, or found him handsome, or whatever

72
00:04:54.959 --> 00:04:57.680
it was they would hook up. But the truth was

73
00:04:57.720 --> 00:05:00.079
that Bob and these women were doing a bit more

74
00:05:00.160 --> 00:05:03.959
than just that. Along the way, Bob made friends with

75
00:05:04.120 --> 00:05:08.040
John Henry Carpenter. John was a video equipment salesman who

76
00:05:08.040 --> 00:05:11.079
worked at Sony, and he opened Bob's eyes to the

77
00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:16.360
world of homemade pornography. After that, Bob was hooked. He

78
00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:19.480
purchased anything and everything that he would need to start

79
00:05:19.519 --> 00:05:22.319
making his own videos to add to his growing collection.

80
00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:26.480
Bob and John often worked together. They would go out

81
00:05:26.480 --> 00:05:29.879
on the town, using Bob's new fame to attract beautiful women,

82
00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:32.199
and then they would take them back to a room

83
00:05:32.439 --> 00:05:35.519
where they would film themselves in the act long into

84
00:05:35.519 --> 00:05:38.839
the night. Bob kept all of these videos and paraded

85
00:05:38.839 --> 00:05:42.040
his conquests to those around him, But they were those

86
00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:45.759
who claimed that making porno films was not actually Bob's

87
00:05:45.800 --> 00:05:49.480
main goal in all of this. Carol Ford later wrote

88
00:05:49.519 --> 00:05:52.480
in a biography about Bob, quote, as far as the

89
00:05:52.519 --> 00:05:56.040
amateur pornography, that was a small part of the bigger pie.

90
00:05:56.279 --> 00:05:59.560
You might say. Bob was chronicling and writing down and

91
00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:02.560
filming every single thing in his life. So when you

92
00:06:02.600 --> 00:06:04.959
look at it in the grand scheme of things, it's

93
00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:09.560
just a small slice. But collecting pornography and sharing pictures

94
00:06:09.560 --> 00:06:12.199
of women that he'd slept with was about to catch

95
00:06:12.279 --> 00:06:16.240
up with Bob. He made some bad moves. Robert later explained,

96
00:06:16.319 --> 00:06:19.560
he collected photographs of women and put together these books.

97
00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:23.560
Oh here's Sally from Jacksonville, Florida, and then he started

98
00:06:23.560 --> 00:06:25.879
showing them off to people. He was doing a very

99
00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:29.360
bad Disney movie called super Dad, playing an all American

100
00:06:29.480 --> 00:06:31.879
character who cares about his daughter running off with some

101
00:06:32.120 --> 00:06:35.839
unsavory type. But at Disney Studios in Burbank, he's on

102
00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:38.519
the set showing photos of women that he's been with

103
00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:41.480
to people on the crew. That hurt him because the

104
00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:44.759
executives found out. People talk, and it started getting in

105
00:06:44.800 --> 00:06:49.000
publications like The National Inquirer. At that point, the cat

106
00:06:49.079 --> 00:06:52.360
was out of the bag and Bob Starr began to diminish,

107
00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:55.439
But far from realizing what was happening to him, Bob

108
00:06:55.639 --> 00:06:59.040
was enjoying himself. He even took his then twenty one

109
00:06:59.120 --> 00:07:02.279
year old son, Robert, to the nineteen seventy two premiere

110
00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:05.399
of Deep Throat. He just loved it because he was

111
00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:09.319
meeting all these porn stars, Robert later wrote. But Bob

112
00:07:09.399 --> 00:07:13.160
Crane now had a sullied reputation, and Hogan's Heroes, the

113
00:07:13.319 --> 00:07:15.759
very showed that had brought him fame in the first place,

114
00:07:16.120 --> 00:07:20.040
had just aired its final episode. Bob was officially now

115
00:07:20.079 --> 00:07:23.399
out of work, and instead of landing another gig in Hollywood,

116
00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:28.040
he found himself working the Dinner theater, circuit cameras and

117
00:07:28.120 --> 00:07:31.560
big studio buildings with hundreds of cast and crew had

118
00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:35.920
been replaced with live performances and restaurants for the average citizen.

119
00:07:36.439 --> 00:07:38.639
He then moved to Phoenix, where he bought the rites

120
00:07:38.680 --> 00:07:42.600
and performed a romantic comedy play called Beginner's Luck and

121
00:07:42.639 --> 00:07:46.319
places like the Windmill. His marriage with Anne was long

122
00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:49.720
dead and buried, and now his second marriage with Patricia

123
00:07:49.759 --> 00:07:53.160
Olsen looked like it too was about to come crashing down.

124
00:07:54.199 --> 00:07:57.600
He'd been a huge star, he'd been rich and famous,

125
00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:00.680
and he'd had it all, but somehow it all slipped

126
00:08:00.680 --> 00:08:03.399
through his fingers. Ahead of him laid a life of

127
00:08:03.560 --> 00:08:06.480
grinding and clamoring to get back to the heights he'd

128
00:08:06.519 --> 00:08:09.600
once flown, and Bob knew that in order to do that,

129
00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:13.879
he needed to reevaluate his life. Just before his birthday,

130
00:08:14.120 --> 00:08:17.720
Bob called his son and told him his plan. Quote.

131
00:08:17.800 --> 00:08:20.839
He was two weeks shy of fifty. He says, I'm

132
00:08:20.839 --> 00:08:24.759
making changes. I'm divorcing Patty. He wanted to lose those

133
00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:27.600
people like John Carpenter, who had become a pain in

134
00:08:27.639 --> 00:08:30.519
the butt. He wanted a clean slate. They had a

135
00:08:30.519 --> 00:08:34.679
breakup of sorts Carpenter lost it. He was being rejected,

136
00:08:34.919 --> 00:08:38.399
he was being spurned like a lover. There are eyewitnesses

137
00:08:38.519 --> 00:08:40.600
that night at the club in Scottsdale that said they

138
00:08:40.600 --> 00:08:44.600
had an argument John and my dad end quote. What

139
00:08:44.759 --> 00:08:48.120
Robert was referring to was an incident that happened right

140
00:08:48.200 --> 00:08:53.120
before tragedy would strike. In June nineteen seventy eight, Bob's

141
00:08:53.159 --> 00:08:57.399
co star Victoria and Barry walked into Bob's apartment after

142
00:08:57.440 --> 00:09:00.200
he'd failed to show up for a lunch meeting. There,

143
00:09:00.200 --> 00:09:04.519
she found him beaten, his face an unrecognizable mess, and

144
00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:08.480
his bed sheets sodden with blood. Bob was dead, and

145
00:09:08.559 --> 00:09:11.399
within hours, his son Robert was being escorted onto the

146
00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:14.639
scene of his father's murder to help with the investigation.

147
00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:19.000
The Scottsdale Police Department didn't actually have a homicide unit

148
00:09:19.080 --> 00:09:21.519
at the time, a fact that Robert would later say

149
00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:27.480
greatly hindered the investigation. Vaughn, Bob's business manager, Goldstein, his lawyer,

150
00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:31.960
and I walked through the apartment, examining, touching, handling items

151
00:09:31.960 --> 00:09:34.960
in plain view of Vassal, the lead detective on the case.

152
00:09:35.399 --> 00:09:38.559
We added our fingerprints, footprints, and hair samples to an

153
00:09:38.600 --> 00:09:46.080
already contaminated, lackadaisically investigated, casually considered murder scene. Detective Barry

154
00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:50.360
Vassal or Vassal would later deny that Bob's crime scene

155
00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:54.519
had been handled incorrectly, especially because he believed that they

156
00:09:54.559 --> 00:09:57.879
had their man, John Carpenter. The two of them had

157
00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:00.960
noticeably fault in the days before the murder, and there

158
00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:03.480
had been no signs of forced jury at the scene,

159
00:10:03.720 --> 00:10:07.759
suggesting that Bob had known his attacker. We found blood

160
00:10:07.799 --> 00:10:11.639
in Carpenter's rental car and on the passenger door. Barry

161
00:10:11.720 --> 00:10:15.279
later said it was Crane's blood type. Nobody else who

162
00:10:15.320 --> 00:10:18.519
handled the car had the same type as Crane. DNA

163
00:10:18.639 --> 00:10:22.679
technology was severely lacking at that time, so blood typing

164
00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:25.639
was as far as the investigators could go in terms

165
00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:29.919
of collecting forensic evidence, but it wasn't enough to persuade

166
00:10:29.919 --> 00:10:34.039
the county attorney to prosecute John. It wasn't until twelve

167
00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:37.320
years later that John was charged with the murder of

168
00:10:37.399 --> 00:10:40.440
Bob Crane, and by then most of the physical evidence

169
00:10:40.440 --> 00:10:43.840
had already been destroyed. The last of the forensic samples

170
00:10:43.879 --> 00:10:46.679
taken from the scene had also been destroyed in the

171
00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:50.480
attempt to get a more conclusive DNA profile, and those

172
00:10:50.519 --> 00:10:54.159
attempts had been made in vain. The prosecution had very

173
00:10:54.200 --> 00:10:57.559
little evidence to prove that John Carpenter had killed Bob Crane,

174
00:10:57.679 --> 00:11:01.440
and he was acquitted. He actually died four years later

175
00:11:01.759 --> 00:11:05.799
and took anything that he knew with him to the grave. Robert,

176
00:11:06.120 --> 00:11:09.200
who initially believed that John was his father's killer, has

177
00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:14.320
since pointed the finger elsewhere at his stepmother, Patricia Olsen. Quote.

178
00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:17.000
She was in the middle of a divorce with my dad.

179
00:11:17.360 --> 00:11:20.159
If there's no divorce, she keeps what she gets, and

180
00:11:20.200 --> 00:11:23.799
if there's no husband, she gets the whole thing. Robert

181
00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:27.600
claims that Patricia was never properly investigated and now she

182
00:11:27.720 --> 00:11:30.279
never will be. She died of lung cancer in two

183
00:11:30.279 --> 00:11:33.600
thousand and seven, also taking any secrets that she was

184
00:11:33.720 --> 00:11:36.399
keeping with her. I don't know what else to do,

185
00:11:36.759 --> 00:11:41.360
Robert said. Carpenter's dead Patty's dead time is just taking

186
00:11:41.360 --> 00:12:02.159
people away. That is ten minutes for today Brief and

187
00:12:02.360 --> 00:12:05.879
binge Able True Crime. I'm Joe, I'm the host, and

188
00:12:05.960 --> 00:12:07.679
thank you for taking the time to listen to the

189
00:12:07.720 --> 00:12:10.000
podcast today. If you're a new listener, make sure you

190
00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:13.039
hit subscribe wherever you like to listen to podcasts, and

191
00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:16.440
that could be several places. I know personally, I have

192
00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:19.600
an iPhone, so I have Apple Podcasts. I also have

193
00:12:19.639 --> 00:12:23.759
a Spotify subscription, So between those two, I subscribe to

194
00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:25.799
a bunch of different podcasts and the same ones, And

195
00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:28.080
each one just depends on where I am and what

196
00:12:28.120 --> 00:12:31.039
I'm doing. Sometimes one app is easier to use in

197
00:12:31.080 --> 00:12:33.480
different places. You know how it works. So wherever you

198
00:12:33.600 --> 00:12:36.200
like to listen to podcasts, make sure you hit subscribe

199
00:12:36.519 --> 00:12:38.879
on ten Minute Murder. And if you've got a question

200
00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:41.440
or a comment anything that you want to get in

201
00:12:41.480 --> 00:12:44.840
touch with me about Joe at ten minute Murder dot com.

202
00:12:45.159 --> 00:12:49.639
And this one is from Casey N. Austin. Joe, what

203
00:12:49.799 --> 00:12:53.120
is a conspiracy theory that you do believe? And what

204
00:12:53.240 --> 00:12:56.000
is one that you do not believe? Okay, this is

205
00:12:56.039 --> 00:12:58.360
a good question. The first part is going to be,

206
00:12:58.440 --> 00:13:01.559
you know whatever, But the second part you may think

207
00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:04.279
is a little controversial. I don't, but I mean it

208
00:13:04.360 --> 00:13:07.559
could be interpreted that way. I believe that Lee Harvey

209
00:13:07.600 --> 00:13:11.519
Oswald had help in his assassination of John F. Kennedy.

210
00:13:12.039 --> 00:13:14.559
I do think he was heavily involved and definitely did

211
00:13:14.600 --> 00:13:17.320
fire shots, but he had help in some way. In

212
00:13:17.320 --> 00:13:19.720
what way, I'm not sure, but I think he had help.

213
00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:23.799
So that's the one that I do believe. The one

214
00:13:23.799 --> 00:13:25.919
that I do not believe. The conspiracy theory that I

215
00:13:25.960 --> 00:13:29.679
do not believe is that Venezuelan street gangs have taken

216
00:13:29.679 --> 00:13:33.799
over an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado. That one's way

217
00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:36.799
more recent. I read where people think that the Hells

218
00:13:36.840 --> 00:13:39.399
Angels motorcycle club was en route to handle it because

219
00:13:39.399 --> 00:13:42.360
the police couldn't handle it. This isn't true. It's a

220
00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:46.320
situation of a deadbeat property management group with a laundry

221
00:13:46.360 --> 00:13:49.720
list of code violations making the property unsafe, mixed with

222
00:13:49.759 --> 00:13:53.200
some xenophobia. The local news there is reported on this.

223
00:13:53.679 --> 00:13:56.559
If you see her friends posting on instaface about this,

224
00:13:56.759 --> 00:13:59.360
trying to drum up hate and fear of immigrants just

225
00:13:59.399 --> 00:14:02.200
trying to live their lives, please don't believe that because

226
00:14:02.200 --> 00:14:04.799
that is not true. There's definitely some stuff happening there,

227
00:14:04.840 --> 00:14:06.279
but it's not the thing you think it is. If

228
00:14:06.320 --> 00:14:09.440
you think it's a Venezuelan street gang and there's a

229
00:14:09.559 --> 00:14:12.639
motorbike club headed to handle the situation, it's not that,

230
00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:15.879
all right, That's it. That is your episode for today.

231
00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:18.360
Thank you for listening to ten minute Murder

Sex Fame and Murder: The Bob Crane Story

Listen On

Recent Episodes