Robert Crane pursued film studies at USC. His short film, Mirage, appeared on the second season of Saturday Night Live. Freelancing for magazines and newspapers evolved into his first book (Jack Nicholson: Face to Face) and a twenty year stint at Playboy Magazine. Books on the late-night comedy series SCTV (SCTV: Behind the Scenes), actor Bruce Dern (Things I've Said but Probably Shouldn't Have), and writer-director Tom Mankiewicz (My Life as a Mankiewicz) ensued. In Spring 2015, Crane's own memoir (co-written with frequent writing partner Christopher Fryer) was published. "Crane: Sex, Celebrity, and My Father's Unsolved Murder" is about growing up as a member of a show business family and how his father's infidelities, his parents' divorce, and the unsolved murder of his father affected Crane and his mother, stepfather and two sisters.