Richard Crenna

About Richard Crenna

Who is it?: Actor, Director, Soundtrack
Birth Day: November 30, 1926
Birth Place:  Los Angeles, California, United States
Alma mater: University of Southern California
Occupation: Actor, director, producer
Years active: 1937–2003
Spouse(s): Joan Grisham (m. 1950; div. 1955) Hannah Smith (m. 1957; his death 2003)
Children: 3
Allegiance: United States of America
Service/branch: United States Army
Years of service: 1944–45
Rank: Corporal
Battles/wars: World War II – Battle of the Bulge
Awards: American Campaign Medal European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal World War II Victory Medal

Richard Crenna

Richard Crenna was born on November 30, 1926 in  Los Angeles, California, United States, is Actor, Director, Soundtrack. Richard Donald Crenna was born in Los Angeles, California, into a modest-income family, the only child of Edith J. (Pollette) and Domenick Anthony Crenna, a pharmacist. His parents were both of Italian descent. His mother managed a small hotel in downtown Los Angeles, where Richard and his family resided.He began his career when he was eleven years old, playing the dimmer half of two youngsters called Herman and Sam in the Los Angeles radio show "Boy Scout Jamboree". He stayed with the series on and off for seventeen years, doing hundreds of other radio shows in between, including voicing Ougy Pringle in "A Date with Judy" (1946). During this time, he graduated from high school with letters in track and basketball, and later enrolled at the University of Southern California, where he majored in Theater Arts.He was cast as Walter Denton in the radio show "Our Miss Brooks" and stayed in the part when the show moved from radio to television (Our Miss Brooks (1952)). The role called for a gangly, awkward, cracked-voice adolescent. Crenna was a tall, graceful man with a rich voice, yet his acting skills were such that he was easily able to fulfill the character's requirements, leading many viewers to believe that he actually was of high school age, when in fact he was 26 years old at the time. Crenna went on to star in another early television series, The Real McCoys (1957), but it was his role as the dedicated state legislator in the short-lived Slattery's People (1964) that finally established him both as a dramatic actor and a leading man. From that moment on, he was rarely absent from either television or motion pictures. In 1985, Crenna was awarded an Emmy for Best Performance by an Actor for The Rape of Richard Beck (1985). During the 1980s, he also became known for playing Colonel Trautman in the Rambo films (First Blood (1982), Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), and Rambo III (1988)). His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is in a prime position, opposite Mann's Chinese Theatre, two stars down from his Rambo co-star Sylvester Stallone.Crenna married shortly after his graduation from USC, but the marriage was short-lived. He met and married his last wife in the late 1950s. Richard Crenna died at age 76 of heart failure on January 17, 2003 in Los Angeles, with more than 70 major motion pictures to his credit.
Richard Crenna is a member of Actor

Does Richard Crenna Dead or Alive?

As per our current Database, Richard Crenna has been died on January 17, 2003(2003-01-17) (aged 76)\nLos Angeles, California.

🎂 Richard Crenna - Age, Bio, Faces and Birthday

When Richard Crenna die, Richard Crenna was 76 years old.

Popular As Richard Crenna
Occupation Actor
Age 76 years old
Zodiac Sign Sagittarius
Born November 30, 1926 ( Los Angeles, California, United States)
Birthday November 30
Town/City  Los Angeles, California, United States
Nationality United States

🌙 Zodiac

Richard Crenna’s zodiac sign is Sagittarius. According to astrologers, Sagittarius is curious and energetic, it is one of the biggest travelers among all zodiac signs. Their open mind and philosophical view motivates them to wander around the world in search of the meaning of life. Sagittarius is extrovert, optimistic and enthusiastic, and likes changes. Sagittarius-born are able to transform their thoughts into concrete actions and they will do anything to achieve their goals.

🌙 Chinese Zodiac Signs

Richard Crenna was born in the Year of the Tiger. Those born under the Chinese Zodiac sign of the Tiger are authoritative, self-possessed, have strong leadership qualities, are charming, ambitious, courageous, warm-hearted, highly seductive, moody, intense, and they’re ready to pounce at any time. Compatible with Horse or Dog.

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Biography/Timeline

1926

Crenna was born November 30, 1926, in Los Angeles, the only child of Edith J. (née Pollette), who was a hotel manager in Los Angeles, and Dominick Anthony Crenna, a pharmacist. His parents were both of Italian descent. Crenna attended Virgil Junior High School, followed by Belmont High School in Los Angeles, from which he graduated in 1944.

1937

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, and played it until the show's end in 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" and several other episodes from the show and as a teenager on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show episode "Watching the Neighbor's Daughter".

1944

Following high school, Crenna served in the U.S. Army during World War II, serving in the infantry as a radioman, where he saw combat in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge (late 1944–early 1945). He also briefly served in the Pacific Theater of World War II processing intercepted Japanese radio messages.

1948

From 1948, Crenna played Walter Denton on radio's Our Miss Brooks remaining with the cast when it moved into television in 1952. He guest starred on the I Love Lucy episode "The Young Fans" with Janet Waldo and on NBC's 1955–56 anthology series, Frontier, in the lead role of the episode entitled "The Ten Days of John Leslie". In 1955, he was the guest star on The Millionaire in the episode "The Ralph McKnight Story".

1956

In 1956 when the Our Miss Brooks TV series underwent a change in format, the character of Walter Denton was dropped. Crenna then joined the cast of the comedy series The Real McCoys, as Luke McCoy. Kathleen Nolan was cast as his young wife, Kate McCoy. Later, Crenna became one of the four Directors of the series during its six-year run (1957–63).

1960

In the 1960s, Richard Crenna directed many episodes of The Andy Griffith Show credited as "Dick Crenna". He also directed episodes of Lou Grant, which ran on CBS from 1977-82.

1964

Crenna portrayed California state senator James Slattery in the CBS-TV series, Slattery's People (1964–65). 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. Crenna was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for "Best TV Star – Male" for this same role, again in 1965. In 1966, Crenna played beside Steve McQueen as an ill-fated captain of an American gunboat in 1930s China in The Sand Pebbles.

1970

During the 1970s, Crenna continued his acting in such Western dramas such as Catlow, Breakheart Pass, and The Man Called Noon. 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 Norman Lear CBS sit-com All's Fair. The single season political satire co-starred a young Bernadette Peters. The 1978 NBC-TV miniseries, Centennial, based on James A. Michener's historical novel Centennial, saw Crenna in the role of deranged religious fanatic, Colonel Frank Skimmerhorn, who ordered the 1864 massacre of Colorado American Indians.

1985

Crenna won an Emmy Award, and a nomination for a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television, for his performance as the main character in the 1985 movie The Rape of Richard Beck.

1993

Crenna played John Rambo's ex-commanding officer Colonel Sam Trautman in the first three Rambo films, a role for which he was hired after the actor Kirk Douglas left the production just one day into the filming of the first movie of the series. Crenna himself also spoofed this character in the movie Hot Shots! Part Deux, in 1993. Crenna portrayed the character of New York City Police Lieutenant of Detectives Frank Janek in a series of seven popular made for television films starting in 1988 and ending in 1994. The character of Janek originally appeared in a series of novels by Award-winning author william Bayer.

2003

Crenna had pancreatic cancer, and died on January 17, 2003 at age 76 of heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, with his wife, Penni, and his three adult children by his side, said his daughter Seana Crenna. His remains were cremated.

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