LOS ANGELES -- Television director Barry Crane, who was involved in the production of Mission Impossible, Dallas and Mannix, was found bludgeoned to death near his Studio City home, police said.
Crane, 57, was found by his housekeeper at about 2:50 p.m. Friday in the garage of his townhouse.
No motive has been established for the killing, and no suspects were in custody, Lt. Ron LaRue said.
Crane was a production assistant and episodic director for Mission Impossible and Mannix. He also directed episodes for other television serials such as Dallas, Police Story and Police Woman.
LaRue said Crane, a world-class master bridge player, had been involved in a game Thursday night and was last seen around 11 p.m.
He had been dead for several hours when his body was found. There was no evidence that anything was missing from the townhouse, but detectives said his wallet and late-model Cadillac could not be found.
"Barry was a very likeable guy," Mannix star Mike Connors told UPI late Friday. "He was a good problem solver for TV shows. He was expert at bringing a TV show in with the most productions values for the least amount of dollars.
"He was very popular with the actors he directed."
LaRue said detectives "found some items which could have been the weapon" to kill Crane, but he declined to elaborate.
