Volume III: Biographies

CRANE, Gardner *

Actor (1913-1914)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: Gardner Crane was an actor with Thanhouser in 1913 and 1914.

Biographical Notes: Gardner Crane was born on July 4, 1867 (one account says July 4, 1874). He was educated at Derby College, Hingham, Massachusetts, and Thayer College at Braintree in the same state. An account of his career given in The Detroit Journal, March 8, 1916 stated that upon his graduation from high school, Gardner Crane was given a ticket to Baltimore by his father, who persuaded him to enter the University of Maryland to study law, which he did for just two months before quitting to go on the stage in New York City.

However, it is believed that his stage debut occurred in Rinaldo, in Boston in March 1895, where he had a bit part with just a few lines. Later he was seen with various stock companies in New York and elsewhere, in Niobe, The Last Stroke, and dozens of other productions. Later in his stage career, but before World War I, he appeared in skits with his wife, Margaret Crane. He was in films with Thanhouser in 1913 and 1914. In 1916 he was on stage in On Trial and Miss Helen Smith. Gardner Crane died of a heart attack in Hollywood, California on June 8, 1939.

Thanhouser Filmography:

1914: The Woman Pays (1-27-1914), Arty the Artist (8-30-1914)

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