Hawaii and Olympics
Raised in Hawaii, he graduated from Punahou School in Honolulu. He excelled as a swimmer and participated in two Olympic Games: 1928, where he won the bronze medal for the 1,500 meter freestyle, and 1932, where he won the gold medal for the 400 meter freestyle.
He attended the University of Southern California, where he was the school's first All-American swimmer (1931) 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 his college sweetheart Adah Virginia Held, and gave himself one year to either make it as an actor or start law school at USC. Buster and Virginia remained together until Buster's death in 1983. They had two daughters, Sande and Susan and a son, Cullen. Sande died of anorexia.
Time magazine wrote on April 11, 1932: "Clarence (Buster) Crabbe, 22, of Los Angeles, ablest distance swimmer in the United States: the 1,500-metre race in the A.A.U. championships, at New Haven, lowering his own American record by 20.9 seconds to 19:45.6. Later he won two other championships: the 300 yard medley and 500 yard free style. Los Angeles won the team championship with 45 points to New York's 37."
Buster Crabbe as "Tarzan"
Crabbe also starred at the Billy Rose Aquacade at the New York World's Fair in its second year of 1940, replacing Johnny Weismuller.
Hollywood
Crabbe's role in the 1933 Tarzan serial Tarzan the Fearless (also issued as a full length movie) launched a successful career in which he starred in over one hundred movies. It would be the only movie in which Crabbe starred as Tarzan. (The serial was re-edited into a made-for-TV feature in 1964.) In the 1933's King of the Jungle, 1941's Jungle Man, and the 1952 serial King of the Congo he played generic "jungle man" roles in the Tarzan mode. He also starred in the first international film Search for Beauty (1934), and his next major role was in 1936 as Flash Gordon in the popular Flash Gordon serial, which he reprised in two sequels, released by Universal in 1938 and 1940). The three serials were later shown extensively on American television during the 1950s, then edited for release on home video. Other characters he portrayed included Western hero Billy the Kid, Buck Rogers, and a brother of his real-life fraternity in the movie musical The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi. In some of his movies he is credited as Larry Crabbe. His sidekick in most of his westerns was the actor Al St. John.
Crabbe is the only actor who played Tarzan, Flash Gordon, and Buck Rogers — the top three comic strip heroes of the 1930s.
Television
Crabbe starred in the television series, Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion (1955 to 1957) 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".
Crabbe made regular television appearances, including one on an episode of the 1979 series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, where he played a retired fighter pilot named "Brigadier Gordon" in honor of Flash Gordon. When Rogers (Gil Gerard) praises his flying, Gordon replies "I've been doing that sort of thing since before you were born." Rogers (who was born over 500 years earlier) responds "You think so?" to which Gordon replies "Young man, I know so!" Crabbe had, in fact, been playing "Buck Rogers" since long before Gerard was born. And as he said that, he looked straight into the camera and winked at the audience.
Later years
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 30's", Crabbe even owned a Southern California swimming pool building company in later years.
In the mid-1950s, Crabbe purchased the campus of a small defunct prep school near the hamlet of Onchiota, New York, in the Adirondack Mountains. Renamed Buster Crabbe's Meenahga Lodge the camp advertised itself as swim camp for youngsters age 8-14, with at least one swim instructor from Hawaii. Using the school's auditorium, along with professionally made costuming and scenery, a couple of musical plays were staged by the campers during the summer under the guidance of several counselors with drama training. Although scheduled to make at least one appearance at the camp each summer, while filming Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion, he supposedly needed an emergency appendectomy which prevented him attending.
During this period of his life, Buster joined the swimming pool company Cascade Industries Inc of Talmagde Road, Edison NJ. In his capacity as Sales VP, promoter and spokesman for Cascade - the world's first "package pool" company - he attended Mall openings and Fairgrounds combining promotion of his swim camps and Cascade vinyl liner in-ground pools. A pool range was named after him, and pools were sold by "Buster Crabbe Dealers" throughout the eastern seaboard and southern states from 1952 until 1990. By the late 1960s Buster Crabbe "Cascade" pools were available in more than 28 countries world-wide. Buster remained a spokesman for Cascade until his death. The "Cascade Pools" name is still in operation in the US, UK and New Zealand and one US pool company in Missouri is called "Buster Crabbe Pools" while an above-ground pool supplier "Aqua Sports" markets the Buster Crabbe range, so Buster's name lives on in the world of recreational swimming.
Though he followed other pursuits, he never stopped acting. From the 1950s forward he appeared in numerous lower budget films. In fact, he appear in the 1982 feature film, The Comeback Trail one year before his death.
Despite his numerous film and television appearances, he is best remembered today as one of the original action heroes of 1930s and 1940s cinema.
Death
He died on April 23, 1983, aged 75, from a heart attack in Scottsdale, Arizona and was buried in the Green Acres Memorial Gardens Cemetery.
Timeline
1908 Birth of "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 Tarzan
1936 played the title role of Flash Gordon
1938 played the title role in Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars
1940 played the title role in Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe
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
1983 Death of Buster Crabbe in Scottsdale, Arizona at age 75
Trivia
Crabbe worked with six year old American actor David Holt in Holt's capacity as the uncredited human double for Cheeta's chimpanzee predecessor in Tarzan the Fearless, the 1933 film staring Crabbe.
Crabbe is the grandfather of Nick Holt, defensive coordinator of the University of Southern California Trojans football team and former head coach of the University of Idaho.
See also
Age fabrication
References
^ Adirondack Museum
^ Player Bio: Nick Holt :: Football
External links
Buster Crabbe at the Internet Movie Database with incorrect birth year
Buster Crabbe at Allmovie
Buster Crabbe at Brian's Drive-In Theater
Buster Crabbe Biography by Chuck Anderson
Buster Crabbe at Find A Grave
v • d • e
Olympic champions in men's 400 m freestyle
1906: Otto Scheff | 1908: Henry Taylor | 1912: George Hodgson | 1920: Norman Ross | 1924: Johnny Weissmuller | 1928: Alberto Zorrilla | 1932: Buster Crabbe | 1936: Jack Medica | 1948: William Smith | 1952: Jean Boiteux | 1956: Murray Rose | 1960: Murray Rose | 1964: Don Schollander | 1968: Mike Burton | 1972: Brad Cooper | 1976: Brian Goodell | 1980: Vladimir Salnikov | 1984: George DiCarlo | 1988: Uwe Daßler | 1992: Yevgeny Sadovyi | 1996: Danyon Loader | 2000: Ian Thorpe | 2004: Ian Thorpe
v • d • e
Universal serials
Serials
Silent Serials
(1914-1929)
Lucille Love, Girl of Mystery • The Master Key • The Trey o' Hearts • The Black Box • The Broken Coin • Graft • Under the Crescent • The Adventures of Peg o' the Ring • Liberty • The Mystery Ship • The Red Ace • The Gray Ghost • The Voice on the Wire • The Brass Bullet • Bull's Eye • The Lion's Claws • Lure of the Circus • The Red Glove • The Great Radium Mystery • The Lion Man • The Midnight Man • The Flaming Disc • The Moon Riders • King of the Circus • The Vanishing Dagger • The Dragon's Net • The Diamond Queen • Do or Die • The Secret Four • Terror Trail • The White Horseman • Winners of the West • The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe • In the Days of Buffalo Bill • Perils of the Yukon • The Radio King • With Stanley in Africa • Around the World in Eighteen Days • Beasts of Paradise • The Eagle's Talons • The Ghost City • In the Days of Daniel Boone • The Oregon Trail • The Phantom Fortune • The Social Buccaneer • The Steel Trail • The Fast Express • The Fighting Ranger • The Iron Man • The Riddle Rider • Wolves of the North • Ace of Spades • The Great Circus Mystery • The Scarlet Streak • Fighting with Buffalo Bill • Strings of Steel • The Winking Idol • Blake of Scotland Yard • The Fire Fighters • The Return of the Riddle Rider • The Trail of the Tiger • Whispering Smith Rides • Haunted Island • Tarzan the Mighty • The Vanishing Rider • The Diamond Master • A Final Reckoning • The Pirate of Panama
Part-sound Serials
(1929-1930)
The Ace of Scotland Yard • Tarzan the Tiger • The Jade Box • The Lightning Express • Terry of the Times • The Indians Are Coming
Pre-war Sound Serials
(1931-1942)
Finger Prints • Heroes of the Flames • Danger Island • Battling with Buffalo Bill • The Spell of the Circus • Detective Lloyd • The Airmail Mystery • Heroes of the West • The Jungle Mystery • The Lost Special • Clancy of the Mounted • The Phantom of the Air • Gordon of Ghost City • The Perils of Pauline • Pirate Treasure • The Vanishing Shadow • The Red Rider • Tailspin Tommy • Rustlers of Red Dog • The Call of the Savage • The Roaring West • Tailspin Tommy in the Great Air Mystery • The Adventures of Frank Merriwell • Flash Gordon • The Phantom Rider • Ace Drummond • Jungle Jim • Secret Agent X-9 • Wild West Days • Radio Patrol • Tim Tyler's Luck • Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars • Flaming Frontiers • Red Barry • Scouts to the Rescue • Buck Rogers • The Oregon Trail • The Phantom Creeps • The Green Hornet • Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe • Winners of the West • Junior G-Men • The Green Hornet Strikes Again • Sky Raiders • Riders of Death Valley • Sea Raiders
War-time Serials
(1942-1945)
Don Winslow of the Navy • Gang Busters • Junior G-Men of the Air • Overland Mail • The Adventures of Smilin' Jack • Don Winslow of the Coast Guard • Adventures of the Flying Cadets • The Great Alaskan Mystery • Raiders of Ghost City • Mystery of the River Boat • Jungle Queen • The Master Key • Secret Agent X-9
Post-war Serials
(1945-1946)
The Royal Mounted Rides Again • The Scarlet Horseman • Lost City of the Jungle • The Mysterious Mr. M
People
Actors and Actresses
Buster Crabbe • Priscilla Lawson • Béla Lugosi • Frank Merrill • Charles B. Middleton • Jean Rogers • Frank Shannon
Production crew
Ford Beebe • Lewis D. Collins • Robert F. Hill • Lew Landers • Henry MacRae • J. P. McGowan • George H. Plympton • Clifford Smith • Ray Taylor
See also
Film serials
List of film serials • List of film serials by studio
Preceded by
Johnny Weissmuller
Actors to portray Tarzan
1933
Succeeded by
Herman Brix
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buster_Crabbe"
Categories: 1908 births | 1983 deaths | American film actors | American freestyle swimmers | American B-movie actors | Deaths by myocardial infarction | Film serial actors | Hollywood Walk of Fame | Olympic swimmers of the United States | Olympic gold medalists for the United States | Olympic bronze medalists for the United States | Sportspeople of Hawaii | Swimmers at the 1928 Summer Olympics | Swimmers at the 1932 Summer Olympics | Punahou School alumni | University of Southern California alumniHidden category: Articles needing additional references from June 2008
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