Many stars of old time radio have split careers, known by a generation for a particular film performance or TV series role, yet also established and accomplished in the world of radio.

While Richard Crenna is known for his work on the TV series Slattery's People and in the Rambo trilogy, entire generations were entertained by his radio work.

He started out young, on a Los Angeles series called Boy Scout Jamboree.  After a brief stint in the war it was back stateside and more radio work.  It didn't take long before he began nabbing recurring roles in the best radio series.

Crenna began his recurring role as Walter "Bronco" Thompson on The Great Gildersleeve in January of 1945.  After appearing on The Great Gildersleeve, just a month later, he tucked into a small recurring role on A Date with Judy, a comedy starring Louise Erickson. He also appeared a couple of times on This is Your FBI and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.

Besides small parts in Great Gildersleeve, it wasn…

Richard Crenna was not a colonel, but he did play one in movies.  He was Colonel Trautman in the three Rambo movies of the 80's, with Sylvester Stallone as the star.

In 1998's Rambo III, Crenna's character, Trautman, is kidnapped and tortured, making it Crenna's biggest involvement in the Rambo franchise. 

Interestingly, Crenna would later spoof the Trautman role as Colonel Denton Walters in Hot Shots! Part Deux.

Crenna's big radio role was on Our Miss Brooks, which made the quantum leap from the airwaves to the picture tube.  Crenna, however, didn't go with it, his character having been written out.  It was a door that closed, but another opened: The Real McCoys.

The Real McCoys chronicled the dirt-diggin' adventures of a family from Smokey Corners, West Virginia, that then relocates out in sunny California.  Walter Brennan played the affable patriarch, Amos, while Crenna got the job as Luke, one of the grand-son.  Luke had a sister played by Lydia Reed and a brother--also named Luke, yeee-hawww!--played by Michael Winkelman.

Good old-fashioned conservative values were portrayed, presumably at the will of Walter Brennan.  In one episode, Grandpa's witching rod finds water while those crazy new-fangled scientists weren't able to.

Eventually, though he was able to make his voice sound youthful and though he tended to play people considerably younger than him, Richard Crenna…

Richard Crenna died after a long, varied, fruitful life, on January 22, 2003.  While he wasn't at the forefront of American popular culture at the time, his death did beget some attention and notice from the media.  For one example, The New York Times ran a lengthy obituary, detailing his career with a focus on the Rambo franchise, and quoting from his daughter Seana.

At the time of his death, though his work had been less steady in recent years, he was in the midst of a project, the television series Judging Amy.   It starred Amy Brenneman and was fueled largely by her creativity.  The plot lines dealt with her life experiences, chronicling a judge whose mother is a social worker.  Crenna played Jared Duff, a businessman and love interest of Maxine McCarty Gray, the mother character.  They were set to be married when Crenna died.  The character also died--just before the wedding.

Crenna's death came at the end of a fight with pancreatic cancer.  His wife, Penni, and his three…