Buster Crabbe

Clarence Linden Crabbe II (/ˈkræb/; February 7, 1908 – April 23, 1983), known professionally as Buster Crabbe, was an American two-time Olympic swimmer and film and television actor.[2] He won the 1932 Olympic gold medal for 400-meter freestyle swimming event, which launched his career on the silver screen and later television. He starred in a variety of popular feature films and movie serials released between 1933 and the 1950s,[3] portraying the top three syndicated comic-strip heroes of the 1930s: Tarzan, Flash Gordon, and Buck Rogers.

For the British diver, see Lionel Crabb.

Buster Crabbe
Crabbe, c. early 1940s
Born
Clarence Linden Crabbe II

(1908-02-07)February 7, 1908
Oakland, California, U.S.
DiedApril 23, 1983(1983-04-23) (aged 75)
Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S.
Resting placeGreen Acres Memorial Park, Scottsdale, Arizona
Alma materUniversity of Southern California
Occupations
  • Actor
  • stuntman
  • swimmer
  • stockbroker
Years active1930–1983
Notable work
Spouse
Adah Virginia Held
​
(m. 1933)​
Children3
RelativesNick Holt (grandson)

Early life

Crabbe was born in 1908 to Edward Clinton Simmons Crabbe, a real estate broker, and Lucy Agnes (née McNamara) Crabbe, in Oakland, California. He had a brother, Edward Clinton Simmons Crabbe Jr. (1909–1972). Crabbe grew up in Hawaii and graduated from Punahou School in Honolulu. He then 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.

Olympic Games
Crabbe at age 20 at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam
Olympic medal record
Representing the  United States
Men's swimming
Gold medal – first place 1932 Los Angeles 400 m freestyle
Bronze medal – third place 1928 Amsterdam 1500 m freestyle

Crabbe competed in two Olympic Games as a swimmer. At the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, he won the bronze medal for the 1,500 meters freestyle, and at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, he won the gold medal for the 400 meters freestyle when he beat Jean Taris of France by a tenth of a second.[4][5]

Acting career

Hollywood
Crabbe watches "Jack", one of the lions in King of the Jungle, eating lunch in a Hollywood restaurant in 1933. Crabbe became a lion tamer while working on that adventure film.

He is credited in some films as "Larry Crabbe" or "Larry (Buster) Crabbe". His role in the Tarzan serial Tarzan the Fearless (1933) began a career in which Crabbe starred in more than a hundred films. In King of the Jungle (1933), Jungle Man (1941), and the serial King of the Congo (1952), he played typical "jungle man" roles. He starred in several popular films at this time, including The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi (1933), alongside Betty Grable, and Search for Beauty (1934), Daughter of Shanghai (1937) credited as Larry Crabbe.

In 1936, he was selected over several stars to play Flash Gordon in the first, very successful Universal Pictures Flash Gordon serial, which was followed by two sequels released in 1938 and 1940. The series was later edited and shown extensively on American television during the 1950s and 1960s, then fully restored for home video release. He also starred as Buck Rogers for Universal, playing the role with dark hair, unlike his blonde hair for Flash Gordon. In 1939 Crabbe reunited with Grable for a lead role in the mainstream comedy Million Dollar Legs.

Crabbe starred at the Billy Rose's Aquacade at the New York World's Fair during its second year (1940), replacing fellow Olympic swimmer and Tarzan actor Johnny Weissmuller.

During World War II, Crabbe was put under contract by Producers Releasing Corporation for lead roles from 1942 to 1946. He portrayed a Western folk-hero version of Billy the Kid in 13 films, and Billy Carson in 23, along with Al St. John as his sidekick. As a 34-year-old married man, Crabbe had a draft deferment, but made Army training films for the field artillery at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, along with St. John.[6] Crabbe also played some jungle roles for the studio.

Following the war, Crabbe appeared opposite Weissmuller as a rival in two jungle films, Swamp Fire (1946) and Captive Girl (1950). For his final multi-chapter movie serial, Crabbe returned to the jungle playing the role of Thun'da in King of the Congo (1952).

Television
Buster Crabbe with real life son Cullen on Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion, ca. 1955

Crabbe was frequently featured in archival footage in the children's television program, The Gabby Hayes Show. Prior to his playing "Captain Gallant", Crabbe had hosted the local New York City-based children's film wraparound television series, The Buster Crabbe Show. It was set against the backdrop of a ranch foreman's bunk house and featured Crabbe engaging his viewers with games, stories, craftmaking, hobbies, informational segments, and interviews with guest performers and personalities. This was in-between the reruns of old movie serials, westerns, and comedies. The Buster Crabbe Show was seen weekday evenings on WOR-TV (Channel 9) in New York City from Monday, March 12, 1951, to Friday, October 3, 1952. The series name was changed to Buster's Buddies! and returned to the NYC airways on WJZ-TV (Channel 7) (now WABC) on Monday, September 21, 1953. The WJZ TV version of the series included a studio audience of kids, becoming 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.[7]

On September 28, 1952, Sports Final with Buster Crabbe debuted on WNBT-TV in New York City. Crabbe gave updates sports news from 11:15 to 11:20 p.m. Eastern Time on Sundays.[8]

Crabbe starred in the syndicated 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 the series as the character "Cuffy Sanders".

Crabbe made regular television appearances, including 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 (Gil Gerard) praises his flying, Gordon replies "I've been doing that sort of thing since before you were born", not realizing Buck was actually born over 500 years earlier. (Indeed, Crabbe first played Buck Rogers in 1939, six years before Gerard's birth.) Rogers responds "You think so?" to which Gordon replies "Young man, I know so!"

He was also in a TV spot for Continental Airlines, where Crabbe spies himself in an old Flash Gordon short being shown on board: "I think I know that guy. He used to be my idol."

Later years

Crabbe's Hollywood career waned somewhat in the 1950s and 1960s, and he 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,[9] which advertised itself as a swim camp, called Camp Meenahga, for boys aged eight to fourteen, with most of the campers coming from Montreal. He was also the aquatics director at the Concord Resort Hotel in New York State's Catskill Mountains.[10]

During this period, Buster joined the swimming pool company Cascade Industries in 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 the promotion of his swim camps and Cascade's vinyl liner for in-ground swimming pools. A pool line was named after him, and swimming 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 later, was limited to low-budget films, notably westerns, such as Gunfighters of Abilene (1960) co-starring Barton MacLane, Arizona Raiders (1965) co-starring Audie Murphy, and The Bounty Killer (1965) co-starring Dan Duryea and Rod Cameron. Crabbe appeared as the father of a young swimmer in the comedy Swim Team (1979), and as a sheriff in the low-budget horror film Alien Dead (1980), followed by The Comeback Trail (1982), one year before his death. Crabbe also appeared in television commercials[11] 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 cinema action heroes of the 1930s and 1940s.

In the 1950s, two published comic book series were named after him. Eastern Color published 12 issues of Buster Crabbe Comics from 1951 to 1953, followed by Lev Gleason's four issues of The Amazing Adventures of Buster Crabbe in 1954.

In 1965, he was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame. During his senior swimming career, Crabbe set 16 world and 35 national records.[12] He continued swimming through his sixties and in 1971 set a world record in his age group.[13]

In 1979 he made one of his final appearances in an episode of the NBC television series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, playing the guest role of retired space fighter pilot "Brigadier Gordon," who is recalled to active duty, in a nod to his two famous science fiction hero roles.

Personal life

In 1933, he married Adah Virginia Held (1912–2004) and gave himself a year to make it as an actor. If he didn't find employment as an actor in that period, he planned to start law school at the University of Southern California.

Crabbe and his wife had two daughters, Caren Lynn ("Sande") and Susan, and a son, Cullen. In 1957, Sande died of anorexia nervosa aged 20.[14]

He is the maternal grandfather of the college football coach Nick Holt.[15]

Death

In 1983, at age 75, Crabbe died of a heart attack at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona.[3] He is interred at Green Acres Memorial Park in Scottsdale.[16]

Selected filmography
Year Title Role
1933Tarzan the FearlessTarzan
1934Badge of HonorBob Gordon
1936Flash GordonFlash Gordon
The Arizona Raiders"Laramie" Nelson
1938Flash Gordon's Trip to MarsFlash Gordon
Red BarryRed Barry
1939Buck RogersBuck Rogers
1940Flash Gordon Conquers the UniverseFlash Gordon
1941-1946Billy the Kid (film series)Billy the Kid/Billy Carson
1946Swamp FireMike Kalavich
1947Last of the RedmenMagua
The Sea HoundCaptain Silver
1950Pirates of the High SeasJeff Drake
1952King of the CongoCaptain Roger Drum and "Thun'da"
1956Gun BrothersChad Santee
1957The Lawless EightiesLinc Prescott
1958Badman's CountryWyatt Earp
1960Gunfighters of AbileneKip Tanner
1965Arizona RaidersCaptain Andrews
The Bounty KillerMike Clayman
1978Swim TeamRock Sands
1980Alien DeadSheriff Kowalski
1982The Comeback TrailDuke Montana

References and notes
  1. Saxon, Wolfgang (1983-04-24). Buster Crabbe, Swimmer and Actor, Dies at 75. The New York Times, 24 April 1983. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/1983/04/24/obituaries/buster-crabbe-swimmer-and-actor-dies-at-75.html.
  2. As with many Hollywood stars there is a conflict between the birth date given in his official documents, and the one used in his Hollywood publicity biographies. His birth certificate and his Social Security application both use the birthdate of February 7, 1908. See Age fabrication.
  3. "Buster Crabbe profile". The Philadelphia Inquirer. April 24, 1983. Retrieved April 20, 2010. Buster Crabbe, 74, an Olympic gold medal swimmer who became the undisputed king of motion-picture adventure serials during the 1930s and 1940s, died yesterday of a heart attack at his home. A family spokesman said that Mr. Crabbe's death yesterday morning was 'very sudden' and that he had been in good health. Funeral arrangements were pending. The muscular, blond athlete became a Saturday afternoon hero playing Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers...
  4. "Buster Crabbe Wins 400 Meter Olympic Swim". Chicago Tribune. August 11, 1932. Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved April 20, 2010. Clarence [Buster] Crabbe, who learned his swimming in the Hawaiian islands, came from behind today to stage a Surprise victory for the United States in the 400-meter free style finals of the Olympic games before a crowd of 12,000.
  5. "Who Won". Time magazine. April 11, 1932. Archived from the original on November 29, 2005. Retrieved April 20, 2010. 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.
  6. pp 31-32 Vermilye, Jerry Buster Crabbe: A Biofilmography McFarland, 29 Apr 2014
  7. Info about Crabbe hosting The Buster Crabbe Show/Buster's Buddies can be found in "The NYC Kids Shows Round Up" section of TVParty.Com and in Children's Television: The First Thirty Five Years: Live, Taped And Filmed Shows by George Woolery, Scarecrow Press, Inc.
  8. "Local Station Activity". Ross Reports on Television including The Television Index. September 21, 1952. p. 3. Retrieved May 15, 2022.
  9. "Adirondack Museum". Adirondack Museum. Archived from the original on April 3, 2007. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
  10. "The Sour Cream Sierras of New York".
  11. "Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe". Fulvuedrive-in.com. March 20, 2006. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
  12. Buster Crabbe (USA) – Honor Swimmer profile at International Swimming Hall of Fame
  13. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Buster Crabbe". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020.
  14. "Buster Crabbe Daughter Dies of Strange Illness. Doctor Refuses to Sign Death Certificate for Girl, 20, Who Weighed Only 60 Pounds". Los Angeles Times. April 12, 1957. Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved April 20, 2010. An investigation into the strange death of Caren Lynn (Sande) Crabbe, 20-year-old daughter of actor and former Olympic Games Swimming Champion Buster Crabbe, disclosed yesterday the girl apparently died of malnutrition...
  15. Condotta, Bob (January 6, 2009). "UW football hires USC's Nick Holt as defensive coordinator". Seattle Times. Retrieved August 16, 2012.
  16. Wilson, Scott. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Locations 25047-25048). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.

See also



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