- Bob Crane, Hogan’s Heroes, TV, 1965-1971. When creator Bernard Fein started casting his pilot, he naturally wanted his actor pal Robert Hogan as hero. The character was named after him, after all. However, CBS wanted a name actor. Van Johnson passed. The British Richard Dawson backed away. “I can’t play American” So they made him a Brit – Corporal Peter Newkirk. And Bob Crane won the 158 episodes. Dawson, ex-husband of the British Marilyn, Diana Dors, became a huge TV star as the game show host of ABC’s Family Feud, 1976-1985. Dawson refused to attend Crane’s funeral after the actor’s 1978 murder.
Birth year: 1932Death year: 2012Other name: Casting Calls: 1