Robert David Crane will always live and breathe beneath the looming shadow of his father, Bob Crane. His life and his death have in many respects dominated Robert Crane’s entire adult life, as the oldest of the Crane children and the child who was closest to his father, knew him and understood him best, as he was 27 in 1978, the year he lost his father.
Listen to Robert talk about the challenges and rewards of being a writer and how writing helped him maintain his sanity in the wake of the cruel and horrific murder of his father, in which he has said: “For several years, every day it felt like I would explode. Writing helped me keep my sanity.”
Robert Crane is an accomplished writer and author, screenwriter and overall philosopher of life, but more than anything he is a survivor. I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know him over the past several years and can attest that he is one of the most engaging, easy going, smartest and most insightful people I’ve ever known. This is a great interview of a person I consider a good friend, mentor and collaborator.
I know you will enjoy this podcast Interview!
Here is a preview & other videos about Bob Crane, & the 2002 film Auto Focus…
Here is a list of Robert Crane’s incredible books…
My Life as a Mankiewicz: An Insiders Journey Through Hollywood
Bruce Dern - Thing’s I’ve Said Said but Probably Shouldn’t have
Beyond Where the Buses Run: Stories
Jack Nicholson - The Early Years
An interesting aside is that on the “tacky” gravestone Sigrid Valdis had created after her death, (after which she had Bob Crane’s remains secretly exhumed and relocated to her gravesite) there is a poem about “wheat” and “Hogan and Hilda together forever” etched on the top. Her name is listed as Sigrid Valdis, with a glamour type photo encased in metal and glass showing her ample cleavage. While on the bottom of the tombstone, her legal name Patricia Crane is listed. Below that the inexplicable word, “Humanist,” has been engraved into the granite, indicating that she was a “Humanist” of all things. Hope springs eternal as they say, even when all evidence points to the contrary.
My UnHollywood Family is coming soon where all books are sold!
~Theresa Griffin Kennedy
Robert Crane Podcast Interview - We talk about his upcoming book, "My UnHollywood Family!" published by Oregon Greystone Press!