Quotes from Bob Crane

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.

I had to talk for a long time to explain to the producer why I wasn't right for 'Please Don't Eat the Daisies.' I also had to explain why I didn't want to do 'My Living Doll' before Robert Cummings was considered for the role.

I don't want to sound conceited, but people were intrigued with me and thought I was crazy and the word got around about this wacky disc jockey who could do 10 commercials in 10 minutes - what I did was make fun of the commercials.

I enjoy life. That doesn't mean I don't care.

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.

Hogan's' came from left field. It isn't 'McHale's' and it isn't 'Combat.' You can't categorize it.

After the fifth show as Hogan, my radio appearances had shriveled down to two a week Monday and Friday. One afternoon I stood before the camera, and I was so tired I couldn't remember a line. The next morning I said goodbye to radio or a while.

I learn by admiring others, listening and correcting what wouldn't be right for me.

Some people never do become a success and then start looking for a crutch.

I had this fantasy. I would be at the Paramount Theater in New York and Louis Prima's drummer falls sick. The theater manager asks, 'Is there a drummer in the house?' I run up on stage and bang instant fame!

When I blow a line at Disney I say, 'Oh fudge,' instead of what is really on mind.

Actually, Hogan is an extension of what I used to do on radio.

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.

You make more money in dinner theaters than on Broadway.

Whenever anyone asks me what I did in the service, I just tell him I was a member of the famed 'Remington Raiders.'

Wit is a comic's defense weapon.

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.

I try to play Hogan in an off-hand throwing lines way.

When I was on KNX I did a lot of television and motion pictures and as you know I did the 'Donna Reed Show' for two years while I was still a DJ on KNX. In fact when I started 'Hogan's Heroes,' I was still doing my daily show on KNX.

The day of the 'Partridge Family' type of show and the 'Brady Bunch' is long gone. The old 'Ozzie and Harriet' days are over.

Well, I take my drums everywhere I go so I can play them for relaxation.

I own half a million dollars worth of-houses in California. That's a lot for an unemployed actor.

You know what they say: You go on the road and you're out of the business. Out of sight, out of mind. I can't afford that sort of thing.

Believe it or not, Jack Lemmon was my inspiration. I saw him in 'Mr. Roberts' at the Stratford theater. I was just 21 or 22 at the time and I thought some day I would like to be an actor.