[1][2] Cranshaw was born in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and became interested in acting while entertaining American troops as a member of the Army Air Forces before World War II.

[1][3] Cranshaw began his screen acting career in 1955 when he was 36 in the uncredited role of a bar tender at a dance in the western Texas Lady.

[4] Despite an acting span of more than 40 years and some 102 appearances, Cranshaw's first credited film role came at the age of 41, in The Amazing Transparent Man (1960).

Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978), Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985), Moving (1988), The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), Everyone Says I Love You (1996), Nothing to Lose (1997), Almost Heroes (1998), Broken Vessels (1998), Best in Show (2000), Bubble Boy (2001), Old School (2003), My Boss's Daughter (2003), and Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005).

He also appeared in more than 50 television series, including Sanford and Son, Alice, After MASH, Little House on the Prairie, Mork & Mindy, The Dukes of Hazzard, Night Court, Growing Pains, Married... with Children, Coach, The Drew Carey Show, and Just Shoot Me!.