Barry Crane
Barry Crane, born Barry Cohen, (November 11, 1927, Detroit, Michigan – July 5, 1985, Los Angeles, California) was a prolific television producer and director, and a champion bridge player.
Crane (sometimes credited as Barry Cohen) produced The Magician, and was an associate producer on several episodes of Mission: Impossible. He was credited with directing numerous episodes of such series as Trapper John, M.D., The Incredible Hulk, Hawaii Five-O, CHiPs, Dallas, Wonder Woman, Mission: Impossible, and Mannix.
Crane, who won 15 North American championships, was a Grand Life Master in the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) and traveled extensively to play in matchpoint pairs tournaments. In World Bridge Federation (WBF) competition he won one world championship and was a World Life Master. Crane also played in team events (where the strategy is subtly different from matchpoint play), and won several titles.
During his lifetime, Crane accumulated more masterpoints (35,135.80) – which are awarded by the ACBL for success in tournament play – than any other player. At Crane's death, second placed Paul Soloway was approximately 11,000 behind; only in 1991, several years after Crane's death did Soloway surpass Crane's lifetime total. In honor and as a memorial to Crane, the ACBL renamed the award given to the player who accumulates the most Masterpoints in a single year to the Barry Crane Trophy, and the list of high Masterpoint attainers to the Barry Crane Top 500.[1] Crane was elected to the ACBL Hall of Fame in 1995.
Crane was murdered on July 5, 1985 – a homicide which has not been solved.
Honors
- ACBL Hall of Fame 1995
Awards
- McKenney Trophy 1952, 1967, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1978
- Mott-Smith Trophy 1970, 1971
- Oeschger Trophy 1961, 1962, 1963, 1967
- Stoddard Memorial Trophy 1980
- IBPA Award (Personality of the Year) 1985
Wins
- World Mixed Pairs (1) 1978
- North American Bridge Championships (15)
- North American Swiss Teams (1) 1978
- North American Men's Swiss Teams (1) 1983
- Master Mixed Teams (1) 1980
- West Coast Master Mixed Teams (2) 1953, 1954
- Open Pairs (7) 1964, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1977, 1983
- Men's Pairs (1) 1966
- Mixed Pairs (2) 1975, 1982
Runner-ups
- North American Bridge Championships (10)
- Vanderbilt (2) 1951, 1985
- Men's Board-a-Match Teams (2) 1956, 1971
- Master Mixed Teams (1) 1969
- Open Pairs (2) 1976, 1984
- Mixed Pairs (3) 1971, 1974, 1977