Lesley Stein was born in December of 1933. As Les Crane, he firstly made his mark in American radio. It is claimed, that he helped to pioneer the concept of ‘talk-back’, in the early 1960s.
By the middle of that decade Les had transported his controversially outspoken talk shows to television. However, critics remained divided as to their merit. A brief stint as an actor followed, and, in 1968, Les gravitated back to radio.
In 1966, he married the actress, Tina Louise, who is probably known best for her role as ‘Ginger’ in the television series, “Gilligan’s Island”. Although, the pair divorced after five years their union did bear a daughter.
Les Crane is probably remembered best as a recording artist, for towards the end of 1971 he charted internationally with the single, “Desiderata”. This, his only success, is a recital based upon a poem which had been written by Max Ehrmann in the 1920s, and won him a Grammy for Best Spoken Word.
“Desiderata” climbed as high as No.8 on Billboard’s pop chart. In early 1972 the recording peaked at No.7, in Britain and No.4, in Australia.
Les Crane died in July of 2008, at the age of seventy-four.