Trivia

Recently owned a registered historic 1846 Confederate home and Civil War hospital in Barnesville, Georgia, which he and his wife Terry operated as the Tarleton Oaks Bed & Breakfast for several years.

June 1998: A guest at the premiere of the restored version of Gone with the Wind (1939)

Bought an antebellum mansion in Barnesville, a town just south of Atlanta and turned it into a bed-and-breakfast with a complete "Gone With the Wind" museum. In 2007, due to his health issues, Fred and his wife auctioned off the home and its memorabilia.

The opening scene for GWTW with Scarlett and the Tarleton twins was shot three different times altogether. The first time the twins' dyed red hair was deemed too curly. The second take was reshot when it appeared that Scarlett's dress was too low-cut for the period.

Was reportedly the oldest surviving adult credited male cast member of Gone with the Wind (1939) at the time of his death at age 90.

He was a frequent volunteer guest host on PBS pledge drives in support of public television.

KFAC was sold, and the new owners fired Fred and numerous other members of the "Old Guard" in 1987. He and the others later won an age-discrimination lawsuit against the radio station.

Became a long-time friend to Superman actor George Reeves, who played the other Tarleton twin, Stuart Tarleton, in GWTW. In fact, Reeves was Crane's best man at his first wedding, in 1940. In various interviews over the years, he supported contradictory views as to whether Reeves's death was suicide or murder, sometimes adamantly in favor of one view, other times just as adamant for the other.

For some time, he was also a talent instructor at Crossroads of the World, where he recalls having worked with Gene L. Coon of Star Trek fame.

Attended Tulane University and Loyola University in New Orleans while acting in local theater productions.

Became a part-time announcer at Los Angeles classical radio station KFAC in 1946, although he continued to act sparingly on TV. In the mid-1960s he began working full time at KFAC.

Was hospitalized for a few weeks with complications related to diabetes, but died of a blood clot in his lung in a hospital near Atlanta, Georgia.

For over 40 years, Fred Crane was an announcer at the classical-music radio station KFAC AM and FM in Los Angeles, until that station was bought and its format changed. He was widely known and praised for his voice and his dramatic reading ability. He had done some stage work, too, or, in his words, "trod the boards.".

Cousin of silent screen actress Leatrice Joy. It was she who took him to the Selznick studio where his Southern accent caught the attention of a casting director for GWTW. He read the opening scene with Vivien Leigh and immediately got the part and was put under a 13-week contract for $50 a week.

Married five times. Children: Haydee, Terri, Shelley, David and Jason.

Was also the program director of the AM side of the KFAC station in the 1970s in addition to hosting his own shows.

Made only two cinema films in his career (the rest were for TV) - his first, as Brent Tarleton, one of the red-haired Tarleton twins who woos Scarlett O'Hara at the beginning of Gone with the Wind (1939), made him a minor cult figure.

Grandfather of actor Brandon Crane.