A writer, Crane was the co-creator of Jackie Gleason’s classic sitcom, The Honeymooners. A stand-up comedian in his teens, Crane turned to writing for Hollywood in the 1940s, starting with Laurel and Hardy’s Air Raid Wardens. Crane and writer Joe Bigelow were recruited by Gleason to develop a sketch about an “everyday working stiff” for his variety show. The sketch about bus driver Ralph Kramden and his suffering wife Alice later became The Honeymooners, thought by many critics to be the best sitcom ever aired. It was on CBS for just 39 episodes in the mid-1950s.
Crane also wrote comedy for Red Skelton, the Marx Brothers, Bing Crosby, Mel Brooks, Alan King and Neil Simon, as well as for politicians such as Robert F. Kennedy. He died September 14 at home in Beverly Hills, Calif., of cancer. He was 84.