Biography
Richard Donald Crenna (November 30, 1926 – January 17, 2003) was an American motion picture, television, and radio actor and occasional television director. He starred in such motion pictures as The Sand Pebbles, Wait Until Dark, Body Heat, the first three Rambo movies, Hot Shots! Part Deux, and The Flamingo Kid. Crenna played "Walter Denton" in the CBS radio and CBS-TV network series Our Miss Brooks, and "Luke McCoy" in ABC's TV comedy series, The Real McCoys, (1957–63), which moved to CBS-TV i...
Known For
Complete Filmography
Sly
2023
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
His love of film began as an escape from a rocky childhood. From underdog to Hollywood legend, Sylvester Stallone tells his story in this documentary.
Rambo
2008
as Col. Samuel Trautman (archive footage) (uncredited)
In Thailand, ex-Green Beret John James Rambo joins a group of mercenaries to venture into war-torn neighboring Myanmar to rescue a group of Christian ...
Out of the Ashes
2003
as Jake Smith
The real-life story of Gisella Perl, a Jewish Hungarian doctor imprisoned in the notorious Auschwitz death camp of World War II.
Afganistan: Land in Crisis
2002
as Self
Produced for the "Rambo III" Special Edition DVD.
The Day Reagan Was Shot
2001
as Ronald Reagan
The Day Reagan Was Shot is a 2001 film made for television directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss as Alexander Haig and Richard ...
By Dawn's Early Light
2001
as Ben Maxwell
When Mike Lewis leaves L.A. to stay with his grandfather in Colorado for the summer, he hates the old man's cowboy ways. When Mike demands to go home,...
Murder, She Wrote: A Story to Die For
2000
as Warren Pierce
Jessica Fletcher, lecturing at a writers' conference, finds herself called on to solve the killing of a guest speaker, an arrogant Russian author who'...
To Serve and Protect
1999
as Howard Carr
Three generations of Dallas police officers join together to track down the deadliest serial killer ever to terrorize Texas.
Wrongfully Accused
1998
as Fergus Falls
Ryan Harrison, a violin god, superstar and sex symbol does not want to cheat on sexy Lauren Goodhue's husband with her. Mr. Goodhue is found murdered ...
Heart Full of Rain
1997
as Arliss Dockett
A young man returns to the family farm after being gone for six years. But it is not until he fights shoulder to shoulder with his father to save the ...
Deep Family Secrets
1997
as Clay Chadway
A tale of hidden family scandals. A young woman journeys back to her birthplace and discovers that much of what she had always taken for granted conce...
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
1997
as Professor Aronnax
In the 19th century, an expert marine biologist is hired by the government to determine what's sinking ships all over the ocean. His daughter follows ...
Atlantis: In Search of a Lost Continent
1997
as Himself / Narrator
Host Richard Crenna reviews various theories on the existence of a site for the legendary Atlantis described by Plato and envisioned by mystic Edgar C...
Race Against Time: The Search for Sarah
1996
as John Porter
The true story of the disappearance of Sarah Porter. With no help from the police, Sarah's parents are forced to act on their own to find her. They mu...
Sabrina
1995
as Patrick Tyson
Sabrina Fairchild, a chauffeur's daughter, grew up at the Long Island estate of the wealthy Larrabee family enchanted with their sparkling world of pr...
Jade
1995
as Governor Edwards
When a prominent art dealer is found murdered, the man's death leads to an intriguing investigation steeped in sex, corruption and crime. District Att...
In the Name of Love: A Texas Tragedy
1995
as Luke Constable Sr.
This is a story of two lovers, Luke and Laurette. Luke is the grandson of a rich Texas family who raised him after the death of his parents. Laurette ...
Janek: The Silent Betrayal
1994
as Frank Janek
Police lieutenant Frank Janek is investigating a series of murders in a building owned by a famous Broadway producer.
Jonathan Stone: Threat of Innocence
1994
as Jonathan Stone
Still in mourning over the loss of his wife, former cop Jonathan stone moves to Washington. However, he is soon falsely accused of murder, and with t...
The Forget-Me-Not Murders
1994
as Frank Janek
A detective tries to track down a serial killer who is thought to be targeting the policeman's god-daughter.
Hot Shots! Part Deux
1993
as Col. Denton Walters
Topper Harley is found to be working as an odd-job-man in a monastery. The CIA want him to lead a rescue mission into Iraq, to rescue the last rescue ...
Hearts of Hot Shots! Part Deux—A Filmmaker's Apology
1993
As part of the film's promotion, a mockumentary was aired on HBO. Titled Hearts of Hot Shots! Part Deux—A Filmmaker's Apology, the mockumentary parodi...
A Place to Be Loved
1993
as George Russ
Gregory Kingsley, a boy passed off onto social services by his natural mother and abused by his natural father, finds the foster family he is put into...
Terror on Track 9
1992
as Det. Frank Janek
A New York detective tracks a serial killer who injects his victims with poison at Grand Central Station.
And the Sea Will Tell
1991
as Vincent Bugliosi
A wealthy couple (James Brolin and Deidre Hall) are killed on their yacht off the coast of a secluded South American island called Palmyra. The suspec...
Murder Times Seven
1990
as Frank Janek
For the third time, Lieutenant Janek is forced to face alone a difficult case, which has some brutal murders that way involving some bigwigs of the un...
Last Flight Out
1990
as Dan Hood
Fact based story set in Saigon in April, 1975 shortly after the US combat troops have withdrawn and immediately before the Communist forces over run t...
Montana
1990
as Hoyce Guthrie
Hoyce and Bess Guthrie are long married Montana ranchers who come to a major crossroads in their lives. An oil company has offered to buy them out and...
Murder in Black and White
1990
as Frank Janek
A recently appointed black police commissioner is killed. So, Frank Janek is assigned to investigate.
Stuck with Each Other
1989
as Bert Medwick
When their stingy boss suddenly drops dead, two coworkers decide to split the million in cash in his safe, only to find themselves pursued by the crim...
Mort Sahl: The Loyal Opposition
1989
as Narrator
Robert B. Weide's 1989 documentary on the comedian Mort Sahl.
The Case of the Hillside Stranglers
1989
as Sgt. Bob Grogan
The chilling true story of the "two of a kind" killing cousins, Angelo Buono and Kenneth Bianchi, better known as the Hillside Stranglers.
Leviathan
1989
as Dr. Glen 'Doc' Thompson
Underwater deep-sea miners encounter a Soviet wreck and bring back a dangerous cargo to their base on the ocean floor with horrifying results. The cre...
Internal Affairs
1988
as Frank Janek
A skilled police detective in a case involving the strange, sadistic murder of a young prostitute who has been killed in exactly the same fashion as a...
Rambo III
1988
as Trautman
Combat has taken its toll on Rambo, but he's finally begun to find inner peace in a monastery. When Rambo's friend and mentor Col. Trautman asks for h...
Plaza Suite
1987
as Roy Hubley
Hilarity abounds in this portrait of three couples successively occupying a suite at the Plaza.
Kids Like These
1987
as Bob Goodman
Bob and Joanna, both over 40 years old, have a baby with the Down syndrome. Their doctor advises them to give the child away, not to "waste their time...
Police Story: The Freeway Killings
1987
as Deputy Chief Bob Devers
Thriller/Drama about LAPD detectives tracking down two serial killers who are murdering hookers.
The High Price of Passion
1986
as Williams Douglas
A college professor becomes obsessed with a prostitute.
A Case of Deadly Force
1986
as Lawrence O'Donnell Sr.
Fact-based story about a 1975 cover-up of a shooting by two white members of the Boston Tactical Unit. While on stakeout on a suspected getaway car us...
Doubletake
1985
as Frank Janek
Two corpses are found in different locations with their heads severed and exchanged. Frank Janek is called on to head the team of detectives investiga...
Summer Rental
1985
as Al Pellet
Jack Chester, an overworked air traffic controller, takes his family on vacation to the beach. Things immediately start to go wrong for the Chesters, ...
The Rape of Richard Beck
1985
as Richard Beck
The tables turn for cynical police officer Richard Beck when he's viciously attacked by two homicidal crooks. Having never been empathetic toward the ...
Rambo: First Blood Part II
1985
as Col. Samuel Trautman
John Rambo is released from prison by the government for a top-secret covert mission to the last place on Earth he'd want to return - the jungles of V...
The Flamingo Kid
1984
as Phil Brody
Brooklyn teenager Jeffrey Willis, thoroughly unhappy with his modest homestead, embraces the other-world aspects of his summer job at the posh Flaming...
Passions
1984
as Richard Kennerly
A man with a wife and daughter also has a son with another woman. When he dies this little secret is revealed to the wife. She then sets out to make h...
Squaring the Circle
1984
as The Narrator
An account of how Lech Walesa and the "Solidarity" trade union confronted the might of Communist dictatorship in Poland.
Allison Sydney Harrison
1983
Director
The story, set in San Francisco, depicts the adventures of Allison Sydney Harrison, a high-school student who teams with her wealthy private-detective...
Table for Five
1983
as Mitchell
J.P. Tannen (Jon Voight) wants a second chance to be a father to his children ... but someone else has taken his place. Determined not to just be a fr...
The Magic Statue
1982
Director
A young woman's wish that she be able to exchange places with her husband is granted.
First Blood
1982
as Col. Samuel Trautman
When former Green Beret John Rambo is harassed by local law enforcement and arrested for vagrancy, he is forced to flee into the mountains and wage an...
The Day the Bubble Burst
1982
as Jesse Livermore
A fictionalized account of how the 1929 stock market crash hurt the elite and the struggling, and the forces that may have caused the crash to occur.
The Ordeal of Bill Carney
1981
as Mason Rose
Bill Carney has just been paralyzed from the neck down. He has been taking care of his two sons since his wife left him. Now, when word of his conditi...
Daniel Boone
1981
as Daniel Boone
An animated special that presents highlights of the life of Daniel Boone, the famous American trailblazer -- from his early childhood years in North C...
Body Heat
1981
as Edmund Walker
In the midst of a searing Florida heat wave, a woman convinces her lover, a small-town lawyer, to murder her rich husband.
Musical Comedy Tonight II
1981
as Self
A tribute to American musical theater, featuring scenes from "Show Boat", "South Pacific," "Sweet Charity," "Finian's Rainbow," and "Lady in the Dark"...
Fugitive Family
1980
as Brian Roberts
To the world Brian Roberts looks like a successful businessman, with a lovely wife and two children all living in a dream home. Nevertheless, he has r...
Joshua's World
1980
as Dr. Joshua Torrance
The pilot story, set in the small town of Strawee, Arkansas in the '30s, follows the experiences of Joshua Torrance, a doctor whose practice is jeopar...
Death Ship
1980
as Trevor Marshall
Survivors of a tragic shipping collision are rescued by a mysterious black ship which appears out of the fog. Little do they realise that the ship is ...
Mayflower: The Pilgrims' Adventure
1979
as William Brewster
In 1620, the Assembly of the Pilgrims decides to emigrate to the young America because of the persecution they suffer by the English crown. The film t...
Better Late Than Never
1979
Director
Harry Landers is a feisty senior citizen who refuses to abide by the rules in a stodgy retirement home run by a dour Ms. Davis, in which Harry leads a...
Stone Cold Dead
1979
as Sgt. Boyd
Sergeant Boyd's police search to find a sniper who has been shooting hookers.
Wild Horse Hank
1979
as Pace Bradford
A teenage girl tries to save a herd of wild horses from a local gang intending on capturing and selling them for dog meat. Unfortunately the nearest F...
A Fire in the Sky
1978
as Jason Voight
Astronomers discover a comet that they believe will crash into Phoenix, Arizona. They attempt to warn officials, but without 100% certainty, the gover...
First, You Cry
1978
as David Towers
The story of television news correspondent Betty Rollin and her battle with breast cancer, and how her subsequent mastectomy changed her marriage, her...
Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell
1978
as Mike Barry
A dog that is a minion of Satan terrorizes a suburban family.
The Evil
1978
as C.J. Arnold
Shortly after moving into a dark, brooding mansion, a psychologist and his co-workers are terrorized by a horrible evil being.
The War Between the Tates
1977
as Professor Brian Tate
A college professor's well-ordered life is disrupted when his wife discovers he is having an affair with one of his students.
Breakheart Pass
1975
as Gov. Richard Fairchild
At the height of the frontier era, a train races through the Rocky Mountains on a classified mission to a remote army post. But one by one the passeng...
A Girl Named Sooner
1975
as R.J. 'Mac' McHenry
A young girl in the hills of Indiana, who had been abandoned by her family and raised by a bootlegging old woman, is taken by the authorities and made...
Honky Tonk
1974
as Candy Johnson
In the wild west con-man 'Candy' Johnson heads to Nevada to set up his own gambling den and teams up with Lucy Cotton, a young woman he meets there. T...
Double Solitaire
1974
as Charley Potter
With his parents about to celebrate their wedding anniversary, a middle-aged husband agrees to renew his vows to his longtime wife. But as they assess...
Shootout in a One-Dog Town
1974
as Zack Wells
A small-town banker is forced to protect his town against a vicious gang of bank robbers determined to get the $200,000 stored in his bank.
Nightmare
1974
as Howard Faloon
A murder witness can't convince the police that the killer lives in the apartment across the courtyard from him, and he realizes he is the sniper's ne...
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
1973
as Father (voice)
Jonathan is sick and tired of the boring life in his seagull clan. He rather experiments with new, always more daring flying techniques. Since he does...
Double Indemnity
1973
as Walter Neff
A scheming wife lures an insurance investigator into helping murder her husband and then declare it an accident. The investigator's boss, not knowing ...
The Man Called Noon
1973
as Noon
Noon is a gunfighter who has become amnesiac. Helped by Rimes, an outlaw who has befriended him, he tries to figure out who he is actually. It gradual...
Footsteps
1972
as Paddy
A football coach is hired by a small college to shape up its football team, and he finds himself in trouble with local gamblers who don't want the tea...
A Cop
1972
as Simon
A Parisian police chief has an affair, but unbeknownst to him, the boyfriend of the woman he’s having an affair with is a bank robber planning a heist...
Thief
1971
as Neal Wilkinson
A professional thief tries to break with his past but has to pull off one last job to pay off a gambling debt.
Catlow
1971
as Cowan
An outlaw tries to avoid interference as he journeys to Mexico to pull off a $2,000,000 gold robbery.
Red Sky at Morning
1971
as Frank Arnold
Before going off to World War II, Frank Arnold (Richard Crenna) relocates his wife, Ann (Claire Bloom), and son, Joshua (Richard Thomas), to New Mexic...
Doctors' Wives
1971
as Pete Brennan
The wives of several high-powered doctors feel neglected due to their husbands' focus on their careers, so they embark on a regimen of sex, drugs and ...
The Deserter
1970
as Major Wade Brown
A young cavalry officer finds his woman tortured by the Apaches and blames the Army for not properly protecting the outpost, so becomes a deserter and...
Marooned
1969
as Jim Pruett
After spending several months in an orbiting lab, three astronauts prepare to return to Earth only to find their de-orbit thrusters won't activate. Af...
Midas Run
1969
as Mike Warden
A veteran secret service officer from Britain hijacks a government shipment of $15 million of gold out of an irritation for never being knighted.
Star!
1968
as Richard Aldrich
Gertrude Lawrence rises to stage stardom at the cost of happiness.
Wait Until Dark
1967
as Mike Talman
After a flight back home, Sam Hendrix returns with a doll he innocently acquired along the way. As it turns out, the doll is actually stuffed with her...
The Sand Pebbles
1966
as Captain Collins
Engineer Jake Holman arrives aboard the gunboat USS San Pablo, assigned to patrol a tributary of the Yangtze in the middle of exploited and revolution...
Made in Paris
1966
as Herb Stone
A pretty fashion buyer visiting Paris on business is courted by a famous designer. Boris Sagal's 1966 romantic comedy stars Ann-Margret, Louis Jourdan...
John Goldfarb, Please Come Home!
1965
as John Goldfarb
During the Cold War, John Goldfarb crashes his spy plane in the Middle East and is taken prisoner by the local government. His captor, King Fawz, soon...
Disneyland '59
1959
as Self
Walt Disney and Art Linkletter co-host a live celebration of Disneyland's 1959 expansion that consisted of the debuts of Matterhorn Bobsleds, the Disn...
Our Miss Brooks
1956
as Walter Denton
The big-screen translation of the successful television show of the 1950's. Arden stars as Connie Brooks, wisecracking English teacher at Madison High...
Over-Exposed
1956
as Russell Bassett
This titillating bit of pulp sensationalism was the last in a string of "B" films that Cleo Moore starred in at Columbia. Moore plays Lila Crane, an a...
It Grows on Trees
1952
as Ralph Bowen
The Baxters are a typical happy American family trying to live on too little money. Mrs. Polly Baxter acquires two mysterious trees that got into a nu...
The Pride of St. Louis
1952
as Paul Dean
The story of Jerome "Dizzy" Dean, a major-league baseball pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs in the 1930s and 1940s.
Red Skies of Montana
1952
as Noxon (uncredited)
When a large forest fire breaks out in the mountains of Montana, a squad of 'Smoke Jumpers', the paratroop-corps of fire-fighters in the U. S. Forest ...