Burly, gruff-voiced supporting player of the 1940s and 50s and son of popular stage and film comedienne Helen Broderick and vaudevillian Lester Crawford. After a brief stab at Hollywood, Crawford returned to Broadway where he won acclaim for his performance as Lennie in the stage adaptation of John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" (1937), before returning to film. Because of his thug-like mug he was relegated to playing gangsters and Western villains in mostly forgettable fare until 1949 when he won an Oscar for his multi-faceted portrayal of charismatic political demogogue Willie Stark in Robert Rossen's "All The King's Men", followed in 1950 by "Born Yesterday" in which he played a coarse, bullying wealthy junk dealer (reputedly parodying Columbia studio head Harry Cohn) who gets his comeuppance from the delicious Judy Holliday. After these two gems, Crawford reverted to character roles and, with the exception of "The Mob" (1951) and Fellini's "Il Bidone/The Swindle" (1955) in which he played a con-man down on his luck, the highlight of his later career was the starring role in the popular low-budget, syndicated police series, "Highway Patrol" (1955-59).