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American character actor Crane Whitley made his first film appearance in 1938, acting under his given name of Clem Wilenchik. One of Whitley's first billed roles was the Foreign Legion corporal in Laurel and Hardy's Flying Deuces (1939). From 1939's Hitler: The Beast of Berlin until the end of the war, the actor was generally cast as a Nazi spy or military officer. In this capacity, he showed up in several Republic serials, including Spy Smasher (1942). After the war, and until his retirement in 1958, Crane Whitley played scores of doctors, ministers, and detectives.