Richard Crenna

Crenna was born November 30, 1926, in Los Angeles, the only child of Edith Josephine (née Pollette), who was a hotel manager in Los Angeles, and Domenick Anthony Crenna, a pharmacist. His parents were both of Italian descent.{{cite book |last=Martone |first=Eric |date=2016 |title=Italian Americans: The History and Culture of a People |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MHJ1DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA277 |location=Santa Barbara, California |publisher=ABC-CLIO |page=277 |isbn=978-1-61069-994-5}} 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.{{cite news |last=Kilgannon |first=Corey |date=January 19, 2003 |title=Richard Crenna, Veteran Actor, Is Dead at 76 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/19/nyregion/richard-crenna-veteran-actor-is-dead-at-76.html |access-date=April 17, 2011}}

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 Kappa Sigma fraternity.{{cite web |url=https://kappasigma.org/prominent-alumni/ |title=Prominent Alumni |website=Kappa Sigma Fraternity |access-date=March 2, 2018}}

File:Kathy Nolan Richard Crenna The Real McCoys 1960.JPG in The Real McCoys, 1960]]

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. 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").

Crenna played Walter Denton on radio's Our Miss Brooks, remaining with the cast when it moved into television in 1952. 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,{{cite book |last=Lentz III |first=Harris M. |date=2004 |title=Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sXrGCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA92 |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |publisher=McFarland & Company |page=92 |isbn=0-7864-1756-0}}{{Better source needed|reason=Lentz is sloppy with sources; see talk page|date=May 2025}} 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".

File:Richard Crenna Bernadette Peters Alls Fair 1977.JPG in All's Fair, 1976]]

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).{{Better source needed|reason=Lentz is sloppy with sources; see talk page|date=May 2025}}

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).{{cite news |last=McLellan |first=Dennis |date=January 19, 2003 |title=Richard Crenna, 75; Actor Made Transition From Comedy to Drama |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jan-19-me-crenna19-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=March 2, 2018}}

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.

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.{{cite web |url=https://www.emmys.com/shows/slatterys-people |title=Slattery's People |website=Television Academy |access-date=March 2, 2018}} 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.

File:Richard Crenna 1998.jpg

During the 1970s, Crenna continued acting in Western dramas such as The Deserter, Catlow,{{cite news |last=Greenspun |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Greenspun |date=October 21, 1971 |title=Catlow' Pits Crenna Against Brynner |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/10/21/archives/catlow-pits-crenna-against-brynner.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 2, 2018}} The Man Called Noon,{{cite news |last=Weiler |first=A. H. |author-link=A. H. Weiler |date=September 25, 1973 |title=The Screen: Double Bill:' The Man Called Noon' and 'Triple Irons' The Casts |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/09/25/archives/the-screen-double-bill-the-man-called-noon-and-triple-irons-the.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 2, 2018}} 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.{{Better source needed|reason=Lentz is sloppy with sources; see talk page|date=May 2025}}

===1980s–early 2000s===

In 1981, he played Kathleen Turner's doomed husband in Lawrence Kasdan's Body Heat.

Crenna won an Emmy Award 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.{{cite news |title=The Rape of Richard Beck |url=https://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/7213/Deadly-Justice/overview |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150427111702/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/7213/Deadly-Justice/overview |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 27, 2015 |department=Movies & TV Dept. |work=The New York Times |author=Hal Erickson |author-link=Hal Erickson (author) |date=2015 |access-date=April 20, 2015}}

Crenna played John Rambo's ex-commanding officer Colonel Sam Trautman,{{cite news |last=Maslin |first=Janet |author-link=Janet Maslin |date=October 22, 1982 |title=FIRST BLOOD |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/10/22/movies/first-blood.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 2, 2018}} 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.{{cite video|title=Drawing First Blood|location=First Blood DVD|date=2002|publisher=Artisan}} He also spoofed the character in Hot Shots! Part Deux in 1993.{{cite news |last=McKerrow |first=Steve |date=May 21, 1993 |title='Hot Shots! Part Deux': Laughter's better the second time around |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1993-05-21-1993141258-story.html |work=The Baltimore Sun |access-date=March 2, 2018}}{{cite news |last=Johnson |first=Malcolm |date=May 21, 1993 |title=Sheen Turns Rambo in 'Hot Shots!' |url=https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-1993-05-21-0000101801-story.html |work=Hartford Courant |access-date=March 2, 2018}}

Crenna starred as NYPD 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.{{cite news |last=Clark |first=Kenneth R. |date=November 6, 1988 |title=Crenna's Janek Is Back, But Not In A Series – Yet |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1988/11/06/crennas-janek-is-back-but-not-in-a-series-yet/ |work=Chicago Tribune |access-date=March 2, 2018}}{{cite news |last=Sandler |first=Adam |date=March 28, 1994 |title=The Forget Me Not Murders |url=https://variety.com/1994/tv/reviews/the-forget-me-not-murders-1200409215/ |work=Variety |access-date=March 2, 2018}}

In 2001, Crenna played US President Ronald Reagan in the Showtime film The Day Reagan Was Shot, a fictionalised account of the attempted assassination of Reagan in 1981.

Crenna was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6714 Hollywood Boulevard.{{cite news |last=McLellan |first=Dennis |date=January 19, 2003 |title=Richard Crenna – Hollywood Star Walk |url=http://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/richard-crenna/ |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=March 2, 2018}}

Crenna died of heart failure at age 76 on January 17, 2003, in Los Angeles. At the time of his death he was also suffering from pancreatic cancer.{{cite news |title=Crenna dies at 76 |url=https://variety.com/2003/film/markets-festivals/crenna-dies-at-76-1117879067/ |work=Variety |date=January 19, 2003 |access-date=March 2, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180414011116/http://variety.com/2003/film/markets-festivals/crenna-dies-at-76-1117879067/ |url-status=live |archive-date=April 14, 2018}}

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Category:1926 births

Category:2003 deaths

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:American male film actors

Category:American male radio actors

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Category:United States Army personnel of World War II

Category:American people of Italian descent

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Category:Television producers from California

Category:Belmont High School (Los Angeles) alumni

Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer in California

Category:Male actors from Los Angeles

Category:Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie Primetime Emmy Award winners

Category:United States Army non-commissioned officers

Category:University of Southern California alumni

Category:People from Bunker Hill, Los Angeles