Crane was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1918. Along with his brothers John and Harry, he grew up on General Pershing St. and went to the MacDonough #13 and
Alcee Fortier schools. His father was a dentist whose father and grandfather also were dentists. Fred broke the trend, getting into acting and football at both
Loyola and
Tulane Universities. His first job in his teens was working in his spare time for an ice delivery service, before electric refrigerators had caught on. Around the time he was 20, his mother gave him "$50 and a suitcase" to come out to
Hollywood and get into motion pictures, impressed that a neighbor's daughter had signed a movie contract. At first he stayed with relatives as well as taking a job at the local zoo to pay the rent, after which at night he read books to a relative whose vision was deteriorating. He soon was invited on a trip to
Selznick International Pictures, where his cousin, Leatrice Joy Gilbert, (daughter of
Leatrice Joy) was going to audition for the part of Suellen in the movie
Gone with the Wind. During a discussion, his authentic
Southern accent combined with striking good looks landed him a meeting with
Gone with the Wind initial director
George Cukor and producer
David O. Selznick, which led to a script reading with
Vivien Leigh, who had been chosen to play Scarlett O'Hara. Selznick signed Crane to a 13-week contract at $50 a week. Crane played the part of Brent Tarleton, one of Scarlett's suitors, and spoke the opening lines in the film. One of the lasting
Trivial Pursuit questions was initiated when an error in the credits listed his character’s name as Stuart, who was actually played by
George Reeves, who is best remembered as
Superman in the TV series. It was deemed too costly to fix this, so it was left that way. Brent speaks the opening lines of the movie, "What do we care if we were expelled from college, Miss Scarlett? The war's going to start soon, so we would have left college anyhow." Crane did not attend the film's 1939 premiere in Atlanta, although he attended the premiere in Los Angeles with his good friend and "twin," George Reeves, at Carthay Circle Theatre. In later years (June 1998), he was one of the special guests at the celebrity-studded premiere screening of the restored version of
Gone with the Wind hosted by Ted Turner in Atlanta. As he began a family, World War II limited his options as acting work was difficult to come by, so he began tutoring at
Crossroads of the World, one of his film students being
Gene L. Coon (well known for his work on the first season of
Star Trek: The Original Series), and also working in a munitions factory until the war came to a close. Shortly afterward in 1946, he interviewed with
Errett Lobban Cord, then-owner of
KFAC (1330 AM), which had recently completed an evolution to a
fine arts/
classical music format. Crane was hired part-time, (a second vocation attributed to his vocal prowess) for his speaking voice and extensive familiarity with musical compositions. He had done and continued to do other radio programs simultaneously, such as staff voice actor on
The Jack Benny Program (on
NBC Radio), and other announcing roles. He had mastered a talent for not only the retention of information, performances, and musical acuity in general, but classical music in particular, partly from his college studies but also from being a follower of the
Walter Damrosch radio program for many of his younger years. He continued to dabble in film, working on the
Cisco Kid television series (one of the first to be shot in color) in an episode entitled
The Gay Amigo (1949), with
Duncan Renaldo as the Kid and
Leo Carrillo as Pancho. He eventually appeared in several TV shows, including guest roles and staff roles on shows such as
Lost in Space,
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea,
Twilight Zone,
Peyton Place,
Lawman,
Hawaiian Eye, and
77 Sunset Strip. He also appeared on
General Hospital later in the 1970s and continued taking on occasional jobs in narration. His family continued to grow, leading him to explore other, more dependable work options as well. He spent several years working at a
pharmacy, several more years as a fine tools machinist and inspector, and several years in housing construction partnership, all while working part-time at KFAC until a full-time position opened up in the 1960s. About a decade later, he was promoted to AM
Program Director (
Carl Princi was the FM Director) in addition to the duties of performing his 6-hour morning show live (
Hark, the Glad Sounds), and recording voice tracks and commercials for the all-night show (
Music Out of the Night) for several hours each weekday after his show completed at noon. His show was frequently in the top 5 of drive-time popularity, ranked by polls in the
Los Angeles Herald-Examiner during that time. As a signature opening for his radio show, he'd often start with the opening of
Gone with the Wind and then his introduction. Crane continued with the radio station after it moved from Prudential Square (near Wilshire and La Brea) to new quarters on Yucca St. in
Hollywood, until the day when most of the older staff were dismissed without notice in 1987. Those who were fired eventually won their case against this issue in an age discrimination suit. Crane continued to work in radio for several years after that, at
KKGO, which was partly jazz, partly classical programming at that time. He semi-retired in the 1990s, beginning a tour of several years of appearances for fans and special events, as well as cruise ship lectures and continuing on charity fundraisers for
PBS station
KCET. ==Personal life==