Craven was born on June 22, 1916, in New York City. He was a third-generation actor, following in the profession of his father, Frank Craven, and his grandfather, John T. Craven.[1][2] His mother, Mary Blythe, was an actress prior to marriage.[3][4] He had an older sister, Blyth Daly (1901-1965), born when the family lived in England. His baby picture was printed in the March, 1922 edition of Success magazine in an article about his father's career.[5] He attended Beverly Hills High School in 1935.[6]
Craven began on Broadway as assistant stage manager for Babes in Arms in 1937.[7] Then he returned to Beverly Hills, starring in "The Thirteenth Chair" and Noël Coward's "Hay Fever" at Harold Lloyd'sBeverly Hills Little Theatre for Professionals. He was originally slated to play a townsperson in the original stage version of Our Town at the Morosco Theatre, in which his father played the stage manager.[1][8] After director Jed Harris heard him read, however, he gave him the juvenile leading role of George.[9] Craven was overlooked in the movie version, however, with the part going to the then-unknown William Holden.[10] He married actress Evelyn R. Barrows in New York on September 16, 1938, when they were both 22.[11] He later married Dorothy Langan in the 1950s, and they had a son, Frank Craven, in 1955, thus continuing a pattern of alternating generations of men named Frank and John.[12] Craven registered for the draft in WWII on October 16, 1940.[1] He was stationed in Naples, Italy during World War II as a private, and put on shows for the USO.[1] On his WWII draft card he listed his employer as the Henry Miller Theater, which today is the Stephen Sondheim Theater.[13]
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