Earlier in this book, we took a look at some of the interesting but little-known facts about the popular American sitcom Hogan’s Heroes. I also mentioned that there was another story to be told about the show’s star, Robert “Bob” Crane, who played Colonel Hogan. While Hogan’s Heroes was on the air, Crane was in his early forties, married, and the father of five children. He had divorced his first wife and remarried in 1970, but everything else seemed to be going great for Crane—he was making good money on the show and was also forging important contacts in Hollywood.
But Crane was feeding a dark side.
It was well known by most who knew Crane that he was a ladies’ man. Thanks to his all-American looks and a confidence that was refined while he was a radio DJ in the 1950s, Crane had a way with women. When Crane married for the first time in 1948, he didn’t let a wedding ring slow down his womanizing. Nor did his second marriage change his ways. In fact, while he starred on Hogan’s Heroes, his womanizing went into overdrive—eventually dipping into the realm of perversity, and ultimately costing him his life.
The combination of Crane’s fame from the show, and the loosening of sexual mores during the 1960s, meant that he always had a sizable pool of willing women to play with. But, as with any other addiction, Crane began to grow bored with normal sex.
Crane’s boredom was cured when he met Henry Carpenter, a sales manager for Sony Electronics, after Hogan’s Heroes was cancelled. Carpenter was immediately impressed with his new friend’s star-studded background, as well as his ability to score with the chicks. For his part, Crane enjoyed having a sidekick, but more importantly, he found a use for Carpenter’s knowledge of electronics.
He would have Carpenter secretly film the two men’s sexual encounters with women.
Even within the sexually libertine circles of Hollywood, Crane kept his sexual addiction a secret for the most part. The women he had sex with were never involved in Hollywood, which allowed Crane to separate his personal and professional lives. Crane’s compartmentalization of his life also made things difficult for the police when they found his body in a Scottsdale, Arizona on June 29, 1978.
Crane’s body and head had been severely beaten with a blunt object. As the police searched through the blood-soaked room for a weapon, which they never found, they discovered a collection of videotapes. The police were shocked to learn that the tapes were actually homemade pornos of Colonel Hogan and another man performing a variety of different sexual acts on several different women. After doing a little detective work, the police learned the identity of Henry Carpenter.
Carpenter admitted that he was in the Phoenix area, saw Crane around the time of the murder, and that he had Colonel Hogan were “tag team” partners. But he was adamant that he had nothing to do with Crane’s death. The police were skeptical, but they had no real evidence to charge him.
The case went cold but was finally reopened in 1992. Carpenter was charged with murder and went on trial in 1994 but was acquitted. In addition to a lack of evidence tying Carpenter to the crime, there was a whole slew of other potential killers: Any number of the women in the videos may have feared being exposed to the point of murder, not to mention an angry husband could also have done the deed.
Besides having a weak physical case against Carpenter, the prosecution’s motive was equally flimsy. They implied that Carpenter had a homosexual crush on Hogan and killed him out of jealousy.
Carpenter died in 1998, having denied murdering Crane until the end. A DNA test of blood found in Carpenter’s rental car at the time was inconclusive, which means that theories about Crane’s murder will also forever remain a mystery.
One thing is for sure though, Colonel Hogan’s dark side had something to do with his death.