Richard Crenna made authority convincing, from military officers to slick mentors. We value his steadiness in a supporting part, especially when the man who appears to know best gives us reason to be wary.
Fi1m perspective
Richard Crenna plays a man in charge and we seldom question how he got the job. He is persuasive as an officer; with the slicker mentor figures, that same confidence can make us wary. We value the steadiness he brings to a supporting part, particularly in Lawrence Kasdan’s Body Heat (1981). It gives the leading actors someone substantial to play against.
The comic juvenile Walter Denton in Our Miss Brooks (1952) is a long way from those officers. By The Sand Pebbles (1966), playing Captain Collins alongside Steve McQueen, Crenna had moved into dramatic cinema. He subsequently worked largely in supporting parts and television rather than becoming a regular film leading man. We would not count that as a failure; these were often parts that needed somebody who could make an impression without taking over.
In Body Heat, he plays Edmund Walker in a film whose chief attraction remains William Hurt and Kathleen Turner. Their foolish desire carries a carefully made thriller that sometimes follows older noir too dutifully. We were drawn in more than we expected, because the leads make that attraction credible even when the plot feels familiar. Crenna’s supporting contribution gives them a useful contrast, and Kasdan keeps the central pair where they belong. This is a good place to appreciate him without pretending that the film is his.
Colonel Samuel Trautman in First Blood (1982), alongside Sylvester Stallone, became his most widely recognised role, continued across the first three Rambo films. It is effective casting, though it can encourage us to notice the job before the actor. Phil Brody, the slick mentor in The Flamingo Kid (1984), offers a less straightforward use of the same assurance. Start with Body Heat if the uniform is all that comes to mind; the film is worth the evening even when its borrowed noir habits show.
Biography
Richard Crenna was an American actor who worked in radio, television and film. He began his career as a child performer on radio in the 1930s and later appeared in the CBS series Our Miss Brooks (1952–1956) as Walter Denton and the ABC series The Real McCoys (1957–1963) as Luke McCoy. He studied theatre arts at the University of Southern California.
Crenna transitioned to dramatic roles in films including Wait Until Dark (1967), Body Heat (1981) as Edmund Walker, The Flamingo Kid (1984) and the first three Rambo films (1982–1988) as Colonel Samuel Trautman. He also directed for television and received an Emmy Award for his lead performance in the 1985 television film The Rape of Richard Beck. He appeared in the miniseries Centennial (1978–1979).
Crenna was born in Los Angeles on 30 November 1926 and died there on 17 January 2003.
