Clarence Linden Crabbe II, commonly known by his stage name Buster Crabbe,
was an American competitive swimmer and movie actor. He won the 1932 Olympic
gold medal for 400-meter freestyle swimming event before breaking into
acting. He starred in a number of popular films in the 1930s and 1940s. He
also played the title role in the serials Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers.
Birth Crabbe was born to Edward Clinton
Simmons Crabbe, a real estate broker, and Lucy Agnes Crabbe, in Oakland,
California. He had one brother, Edward Clinton Simmons Crabbe Jr..
Hawaii and Olympics Raised in Hawaii, Crabbe graduated from
the Punahou School in Honolulu. He competed in two Olympic Games as a
swimmer. In 1928 he won the bronze medal for the 1,500 meters freestyle, and in
1932 he won the gold medal for the 400 meters freestyle when he beat Jean Taris
of France by a tenth of a second. He attended the University of Southern
California, where he was the school's first All-American swimmer and a 1931
NCAA freestyle titlist. He also became a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity
before graduating from USC in 1931. In 1933 he married Adah Virginia Held, and
gave himself one year to make it as an actor. If he didn't, he would start law
school at USC. Crabbe and his wife were the parents of two daughters, Sande and
Susan, and a son, Cullen. Sande died of apparent anorexia in 1957, after a long
fast when she was 20; at the time of her death, she weighed only 60 pounds.
Hollywood Crabbe's role in the 1933 Tarzan serial,
Tarzan the Fearless, began a career in which he starred in more than one
hundred movies. In the 1933 King of the Jungle, 1941 Jungle Man, and the 1952
serial King of the Congo, he played typical "jungle man" roles. He starred
in several popular films at this time, including The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi
alongside Betty Grable in 1933 and Search for Beauty, and in 1936 he was
Flash Gordon in the very successful Flash Gordon serial, followed by two
sequels, released by Universal in 1938 and 1940. The series was shown later
extensively on American television in the 1950s and 1960s, then edited for
release on home video. He also portrayed a Western folk-hero version of Billy the
Kid, in 36 films, starred as Buck Rogers. In some movies he is credited as
"Larry Crabbe" or "Larry Crabbe". His sidekick in most of his westerns was
actor Al St. John. In 1939 Crabbe reunited with Betty Grable for a lead
role in the mainstream comedy hit Million Dollar Legs. Crabbe is the only
actor to play Tarzan, Flash Gordon, and Buck Rogers – the top three syndicated
comic strip heroes of the 1930s. Crabbe starred at the Billy Rose's
Aquacade at the New York World's Fair in its second year of 1940, replacing a
fellow Olympic swimmer Johnny Weissmuller.
Television Crabbe starred in the television series,
Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion as Captain Michael Gallant; the adventure
series aired on NBC. His real-life son, Cullen Crabbe, appeared in this show as
the character "Cuffy Sanders". He was featured frequently in archival footage
in the children's television program, The Gabby Hayes Show. Prior to his
playing "Captain Michael Gallant" Crabbe had hosted a local NYC based children's
film wraparound television series The Buster Crabbe Show. The series, which
was set against the backdrop of a ranch foreman's bunk house featured Crabbe
engaging his viewers in games, stories, craftmaking, hobbies, informational
segments, and interviews with guest performers and personalities in between
reruns of old movie serials, westerns and comedies. The Buster Crabbe Show was
seen weekday evenings on WOR-TV in New York City from Monday March 12, 1951, to
Friday October 3, 1952. The series returned to the NYC airways on WJZ-TV on
Monday September 21, 1953, and was retitled Buster's Buddies!. The WJZ TV
version of the series included a studio audience of kids and became more of a
kids' variety show. Despite the addition of the studio audience and Crabbe's
personality, Buster's Buddies! was not a hit and it was canceled on Friday March
26, 1954. Crabbe made regular television appearances, including one on an episode
of the 1979 series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, in which he played a
retired fighter pilot named "Brigadier Gordon" in honor of Flash Gordon. When
Rogers praises his flying, Gordon replies "I've been doing that sort of
thing since before you were born." Rogers responds "You think so, old
timer?" to which Gordon replies "Young man, I know so." Crabbe had, in fact,
been playing "Buck Rogers" since long before Gerard was born.
Later years and death Crabbe's Hollywood career waned somewhat
in the 1950s and 1960s. The ever-industrious Crabbe became a
stockbroker and businessman during this period. According to David Ragan's Movie
Stars of the '30s, Crabbe owned a Southern California swimming
pool-building company in later years. In the mid-1950s, Crabbe purchased the
Adirondack campus of the Adirondack-Florida School, which
advertised itself as a swim camp for youngsters aged eight to 14.
During this period of his life, Buster joined the swimming pool company Cascade
Industries of Talmadge Road, Edison, New Jersey. In his capacity as Vice
President of Sales, promoter and spokesman for Cascade – the world's
first "package pool" company – he attended shopping mall openings and
fairgrounds combining promotion of his swim camps and Cascade vinyl liner
in-ground swimming pools. A pool line was named after him, and pools were sold
by "Buster Crabbe Dealers" throughout the eastern seaboard and southern states
from 1952 until 1990. Though he followed other pursuits, he never stopped acting.
However, his career in the 1950s and after was limited to lower-budget films,
notably westerns such as Gunfighters of Abilene, Arizona Raiders and The Bounty
Killer. He appeared as the father of a young swimmer in the comedy Swim Team
and as a sheriff in the horror film Alien Dead, followed by the feature film
The Comeback Trail in 1982, one year before his death. Crabbe also appeared
in television commercials for Hormel Chili, Icy Hot, and the Magic Mold
Bodyshirt, an upper body male girdle of sorts, which purportedly helped in
weight loss. Through Icy Hot, he was actively involved in arthritis
education. Despite his numerous film and television appearances, he is best
remembered today as one of the original action heroes of 1930s and 1940s cinema.
In the 1950s, two comic book series were published named after him. Eastern Color
published 12 issues of Buster Crabbe Comics from 1951 to 1953, followed by
Lev Gleason's The Amazing Adventures of Buster Crabbe for four issues in 1954.
In 1965 he was induced into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
During his senior swimming career Crabbe set 16 world and 35 national records. He
continued swimming through his sixties, and in 1971 set a world record in his
age group. He died on April 23, 1983 of a heart
attack after tripping over a wastebasket in his Scottsdale, Arizona home. He is
interred at Green Acres Memorial Park in Scottsdale.
Timeline 1908 Born as "Clarence Linden Crabbe" in
Oakland 1910 US Census with the Crabbes in
California 1928 Olympics
1931 graduated from the University of Southern California
1932 Olympics, won gold medal in 400-meter freestyle
1933 played title role in Tarzan the Fearless
1936 played title role in Flash Gordon 1938 played title role in Flash Gordon's
Trip to Mars 1939 played title role in Buck Rogers
1940 played title role in Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe
1941 begins work with Producers Releasing Corporation in a variety of
westerns and jungle films 1955 Start of Captain Gallant of the
Foreign Legion 1957 End of Captain Gallant of the
Foreign Legion 1960–1983 Sales VP and promoter of the
Buster Crabbe range of Cascade swimming pools
1980 Guest-starred in the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century episode "Planet of the
Slave Girls" as an aged pilot named "Brigadier Gordon," a tongue-in-cheek
reference – and salute – to his Flash Gordon roles
1983 Died in Scottsdale, Arizona, aged 75
See also List of Olympic medalists in swimming
List of University of Southern California people
Notes References
External links Buster Crabbe at the Internet Movie
Database Buster Crabbe at Find a Grave
Buster Crabbe – Olympic athlete profile at Sports-Reference.com
Buster Crabbe at AllMovie Buster Crabbe at Brian's Drive-In
Theater Buster Crabbe Biography by Chuck
Anderson