diff --git a/Doc/library/stdtypes.rst b/Doc/library/stdtypes.rst
--- a/Doc/library/stdtypes.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/stdtypes.rst
@@ -1277,7 +1277,9 @@
 
    Ranges containing absolute values larger than :data:`sys.maxsize` are
    permitted but some features (such as :func:`len`) may raise
-   :exc:`OverflowError`.
+   :exc:`OverflowError` though ``bool(r)`` always works: empty range is
+   considered false.
+
 
    Range examples::
 
@@ -1363,6 +1365,9 @@
    The :attr:`~range.start`, :attr:`~range.stop` and :attr:`~range.step`
    attributes.
 
+.. versionchanged:: 3.6
+   ``bool(r)`` works even if ``len(r)`` raises :exc:`OverflowError`
+
 .. seealso::
 
    * The `linspace recipe <http://code.activestate.com/recipes/579000/>`_
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_range.py b/Lib/test/test_range.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_range.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_range.py
@@ -99,20 +99,24 @@
         x = range(10**20+10, 10**20, 3)
         self.assertEqual(len(x), 0)
         self.assertEqual(len(list(x)), 0)
+        self.assertFalse(x)
 
         x = range(10**20, 10**20+10, -3)
         self.assertEqual(len(x), 0)
         self.assertEqual(len(list(x)), 0)
+        self.assertFalse(x)
 
         x = range(10**20+10, 10**20, -3)
         self.assertEqual(len(x), 4)
         self.assertEqual(len(list(x)), 4)
+        self.assertTrue(x)
 
         # Now test range() with longs
-        self.assertEqual(list(range(-2**100)), [])
-        self.assertEqual(list(range(0, -2**100)), [])
-        self.assertEqual(list(range(0, 2**100, -1)), [])
-        self.assertEqual(list(range(0, 2**100, -1)), [])
+        for x in [range(-2**100),
+                  range(0, -2**100),
+                  range(0, 2**100, -1)]:
+            self.assertEqual(list(x), [])
+            self.assertFalse(x)
 
         a = int(10 * sys.maxsize)
         b = int(100 * sys.maxsize)
@@ -153,6 +157,7 @@
                 step = x[1] - x[0]
                 length = 1 + ((x[-1] - x[0]) // step)
             return length
+
         a = -sys.maxsize
         b = sys.maxsize
         expected_len = b - a
@@ -160,6 +165,7 @@
         self.assertIn(a, x)
         self.assertNotIn(b, x)
         self.assertRaises(OverflowError, len, x)
+        self.assertTrue(x)
         self.assertEqual(_range_len(x), expected_len)
         self.assertEqual(x[0], a)
         idx = sys.maxsize+1
@@ -177,6 +183,7 @@
         self.assertIn(a, x)
         self.assertNotIn(b, x)
         self.assertRaises(OverflowError, len, x)
+        self.assertTrue(x)
         self.assertEqual(_range_len(x), expected_len)
         self.assertEqual(x[0], a)
         idx = sys.maxsize+1
@@ -195,6 +202,7 @@
         self.assertIn(a, x)
         self.assertNotIn(b, x)
         self.assertRaises(OverflowError, len, x)
+        self.assertTrue(x)
         self.assertEqual(_range_len(x), expected_len)
         self.assertEqual(x[0], a)
         idx = sys.maxsize+1
@@ -213,6 +221,7 @@
         self.assertIn(a, x)
         self.assertNotIn(b, x)
         self.assertRaises(OverflowError, len, x)
+        self.assertTrue(x)
         self.assertEqual(_range_len(x), expected_len)
         self.assertEqual(x[0], a)
         idx = sys.maxsize+1
diff --git a/Objects/rangeobject.c b/Objects/rangeobject.c
--- a/Objects/rangeobject.c
+++ b/Objects/rangeobject.c
@@ -668,6 +668,34 @@
         (objobjargproc)0,            /* mp_ass_subscript */
 };
 
+static int
+range_bool(rangeobject* self)
+{
+  return PyObject_IsTrue(self->length);
+}
+
+static PyNumberMethods range_as_number = {
+ 0,                   /* nb_add */
+ 0,                   /* nb_subtract */
+ 0,                   /* nb_multiply */
+ 0,                   /* nb_remainder */
+ 0,                   /* nb_divmod */
+ 0,                   /* nb_power */
+ 0,                   /* nb_negative */
+ 0,                   /* nb_positive */
+ 0,                   /* nb_absolute */
+ (inquiry)range_bool, /* nb_bool */
+ 0,                   /* nb_invert */
+ 0,                   /* nb_lshift */
+ 0,                   /* nb_rshift */
+ 0,                   /* nb_and */
+ 0,                   /* nb_xor */
+ 0,                   /* nb_or */
+ 0,                   /* nb_int */
+ 0,                   /* nb_reserved */
+ 0,                   /* nb_float */
+};
+
 static PyObject * range_iter(PyObject *seq);
 static PyObject * range_reverse(PyObject *seq);
 
@@ -707,7 +735,7 @@
         0,                      /* tp_setattr */
         0,                      /* tp_reserved */
         (reprfunc)range_repr,   /* tp_repr */
-        0,                      /* tp_as_number */
+        &range_as_number,       /* tp_as_number */
         &range_as_sequence,     /* tp_as_sequence */
         &range_as_mapping,      /* tp_as_mapping */
         (hashfunc)range_hash,   /* tp_hash */