Buster Crabbe
Encyclopedia
Clarence Linden "Buster" Crabbe (ˈkræb; February 7, 1908 – April 23, 1983) was an American athlete and actor, who starred in a number of popular serials
in the 1930s and 1940s.
, California
. His father was born in Nevada and his paternal grandfather, Clarence Linden Crabbe I (1861–1941), was born in Hawaii. Buster had a brother, Edward Clinton Simmons Crabbe II (1909–1972), who was known as "Buddy". In 1910 the family was living in a boarding house in Oakland and Edward senior was working as a real estate broker. As with many Hollywood stars there is a conflict between the birthdate 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. The Encyclopædia Britannica
uses an incorrect birthdate based on his Hollywood publicity biography.
, he graduated from the 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 what appeared to be anorexia
in 1957, she was 20 years old and weighed only 60 pounds.
Crabbe also starred at the Billy Rose's Aquacade
at the New York World's Fair
in its second year of 1940, replacing Johnny Weismuller.
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 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 and 60s and 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 or Larry (Buster) 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 syndicated comic strip heroes of the 1930s.
(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". 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 Ch.9 in NYC from Monday March 12, 1951 to Friday October 3, 1952. The series returned to the NYC airways on WJZ TV Ch.7 (now WABC
) 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 (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. (Info about Mr.Crabbe hosting "The Buster Crabbe Show"/"Buster's Buddies" can be found in "The NYC Kids Shows Round Up" section of TV Party.Com and in "Children's Television: The First Thirty Five Years: Live, Taped And Filmed Shows" by George Woolery, Scarecrow Press, Inc)
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 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 Onchiota, New York, in the Adirondack Mountains
. Renamed Buster Crabbe's Meenahga Lodge the camp advertised itself as swim camp for youngsters age eight to 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 his attending.
During this period of his life, Buster joined the swimming pool company Cascade Industries of Talmagde 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 fair
grounds combining promotion of his swim camps and Cascade vinyl liner in-ground swimming pool
s. 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 worldwide. 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 appeared in the 1982 feature film, The Comeback Trail
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 '50s, two comic book series were published named after him. Eastern Color published 12 issues of Buster Crabbe Comics from 1951–53, followed by Lev Gleason's The Amazing Adventures of Buster Crabbe for four issues in 1954.
after tripping over a wastebasket in his Scottsdale
, Arizona
home. He was buried in the Green Acres Memorial Park in Scottsdale.
Serial (film)
Serials, more specifically known as Movie serials, Film serials or Chapter plays, were short subjects originally shown in theaters in conjunction with a feature film. They were related to pulp magazine serialized fiction...
in the 1930s and 1940s.
Birth
He was born as Clarence Linden Crabbe II to Lucy Agnes McNamara (1885–1959) and Edward Clinton Simmons Crabbe I (1882-?) in OaklandOakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. His father was born in Nevada and his paternal grandfather, Clarence Linden Crabbe I (1861–1941), was born in Hawaii. Buster had a brother, Edward Clinton Simmons Crabbe II (1909–1972), who was known as "Buddy". In 1910 the family was living in a boarding house in Oakland and Edward senior was working as a real estate broker. As with many Hollywood stars there is a conflict between the birthdate 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. The Encyclopædia Britannica
Encyclopædia Britannica
The Encyclopædia Britannica , published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert...
uses an incorrect birthdate based on his Hollywood publicity biography.
Hawaii and Olympics
Raised in HawaiiHawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, he graduated from the Punahou School
Punahou School
Punahou School, once known as Oahu College, is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school located in Honolulu CDP, City and County of Honolulu in the U.S. State of Hawaii...
in Honolulu. He excelled as a swimmer and participated in two Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
: 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
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, 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
Sigma Chi
Sigma Chi is the largest and one of the oldest college Greek-letter secret and social fraternities in North America with 244 active chapters and more than . Sigma Chi was founded on June 28, 1855 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio when members split from Delta Kappa Epsilon...
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 what appeared to be anorexia
Anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Although commonly called "anorexia", that term on its own denotes any symptomatic loss of appetite and is not strictly accurate...
in 1957, she was 20 years old and weighed only 60 pounds.
Crabbe also starred at the Billy Rose's Aquacade
Billy Rose's Aquacade
Billy Rose's Aquacade was a music, dance and swimming show produced by Billy Rose at the Great Lakes Exposition in 1937.Later Aquacade moved to the 1939 New York World's Fair where it was the most successful production of the fair . The Art Deco 11,000 seat amphitheatre was designed by architects...
at the New York World's Fair
1939 New York World's Fair
The 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park , was the second largest American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people...
in its second year of 1940, replacing Johnny Weismuller.
Hollywood
Crabbe's role in the 1933 Tarzan serial Tarzan the FearlessTarzan the Fearless
Tarzan the Fearless is a 12 chapter film serial starring Buster Crabbe in his only appearance as Tarzan. It was also released as a 71-minute feature film which comprised the first four chapters of the serial version. Co-starring was actress Jacqueline Wells, who later changed her name to Julie...
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
Jungle Man (film)
- Cast :*Buster Crabbe as Dr. Robert Hammond, aka Junga*Charles B. Middleton as Rev. James Graham*Sheila Darcy as Betty Graham*Vince Barnett as Buckthorn the Guide*Weldon Heyburn as Bruce Kellogg*Robert Carson as Andy*Paul Scott as William Graham...
, and the 1952 serial King of the Congo
King of the Congo
King of the Congo was the 48th serial released by Columbia Pictures. It was based on the comic book character "Thun'da", created by Frank Frazetta.-Plot:...
, he played generic "jungle man" roles in the Tarzan mode. He also starred in the film Search for Beauty (1934), and his next major role was in 1936 as Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon is the hero of a science fiction adventure comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by and created to compete with the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip. Also inspired by these series were comics such as Dash...
in the popular Flash Gordon serial
Flash Gordon (serial)
Flash Gordon is a 1936 science fiction film serial. Told in 13 installments, it was the first screen adventure for the comic-strip character Flash Gordon, and tells the story of his first visit to the planet Mongo and his encounter with the evil Emperor Ming the Merciless. Buster Crabbe, Jean...
, 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 and 60s and then edited for release on home video. Other characters he portrayed included Western hero Billy the Kid
Billy the Kid
William H. Bonney William H. Bonney William H. Bonney (born William Henry McCarty, Jr. est. November 23, 1859 – c. July 14, 1881, better known as Billy the Kid but also known as Henry Antrim, was a 19th-century American gunman who participated in the Lincoln County War and became a frontier...
, Buck Rogers
Buck Rogers
Anthony Rogers is a fictional character that first appeared in Armageddon 2419 A.D. by Philip Francis Nowlan in the August 1928 issue of the pulp magazine Amazing Stories. A sequel, The Airlords of Han, was published in the March 1929 issue....
, 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 or Larry (Buster) Crabbe. His sidekick
Sidekick
A sidekick is a close companion who is generally regarded as subordinate to the one he accompanies. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, Sherlock Holmes' Doctor Watson, The Lone Ranger's Tonto, The Green Hornet's Kato and Batman's Robin.-Origins:The origin of the...
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 syndicated comic strip heroes of the 1930s.
Television
Crabbe starred in the television series, Captain Gallant of the Foreign LegionCaptain Gallant of the Foreign Legion
Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion was a half-hour black-and-white television series about the French Foreign Legion starring Buster Crabbe in the title role. Crabbe's real-life son Cullen Crabbe played the Legion mascot, with cowboy sidekick Fuzzy Knight playing himself as Legion comedy relief...
(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". He was featured frequently in archival footage in the children's television program, The Gabby Hayes Show
The Gabby Hayes Show
The Gabby Hayes Show is a general purpose western television series in which the film star and Roy Rogers confidant, George "Gabby" Hayes , narrated each episode, showed clips from old westerns, or told tall tales for a primarily children's audience. The first Hayes program ran on NBC at 5:15 p.m...
.
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 Ch.9 in NYC from Monday March 12, 1951 to Friday October 3, 1952. The series returned to the NYC airways on WJZ TV Ch.7 (now WABC
WABC-TV
WABC-TV, channel 7, is the flagship station of the Disney-owned American Broadcasting Company located in New York City. The station's studios and offices are located on the Upper West Side section of Manhattan, adjacent to ABC's corporate headquarters, and its transmitter is atop the Empire State...
) 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
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (TV series)
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is an American science fiction adventure television series produced by Universal Studios. The series ran for two seasons between 1979–1981, and the feature-length pilot episode for the series was released as a theatrical film several months before the series aired....
, in which he played a retired fighter pilot named "Brigadier Gordon" in honor of Flash Gordon. When Rogers (Gil Gerard
Gil Gerard
Gilbert C. "Gil" Gerard is an American actor. He is most famous for his role as Captain William "Buck" Rogers in the 1979-1981 television series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.-Early life:...
) 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. (Info about Mr.Crabbe hosting "The Buster Crabbe Show"/"Buster's Buddies" can be found in "The NYC Kids Shows Round Up" section of TV Party.Com and in "Children's Television: The First Thirty Five Years: Live, Taped And Filmed Shows" by George Woolery, Scarecrow Press, Inc)
Later years
In 1957 his daughter died.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 even owned a Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
swimming pool building company in later years.
In the mid-1950s, Crabbe purchased the campus of a small defunct prep school near Onchiota, New York, in the Adirondack Mountains
Adirondack Mountains
The Adirondack Mountains are a mountain range located in the northeastern part of New York, that runs through Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Saint Lawrence, Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties....
. Renamed Buster Crabbe's Meenahga Lodge the camp advertised itself as swim camp for youngsters age eight to 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 his attending.
During this period of his life, Buster joined the swimming pool company Cascade Industries of Talmagde Road, Edison, New Jersey
Edison, New Jersey
Edison Township is a township in Middlesex County, New Jersey. What is now Edison Township was originally incorporated as Raritan Township by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1870, from portions of both Piscataway Township and Woodbridge Township...
. In his capacity as Vice President of Sales, promoter and spokesman for Cascade - the world's first "package pool" company - he attended shopping mall
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
openings and fair
Fair
A fair or fayre is a gathering of people to display or trade produce or other goods, to parade or display animals and often to enjoy associated carnival or funfair entertainment. It is normally of the essence of a fair that it is temporary; some last only an afternoon while others may ten weeks. ...
grounds combining promotion of his swim camps and Cascade vinyl liner in-ground swimming pool
Swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
s. 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 worldwide. 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 appeared in the 1982 feature film, The Comeback Trail
The Comeback Trail
The Comeback Trail is a 1982 film directed by Harry Hurwitz. The film features several cameos playing themselves such as Hugh Hefner.-Plot:...
one year before his death.
Crabbe also appeared in television commercials for Hormel
Hormel
Hormel Foods Corporation is a food company based in southeastern Minnesota , perhaps best known as the producer of Spam luncheon meat. The company was founded as George A. Hormel & Company in Austin, Minnesota, U.S., by George A. Hormel in 1891. The company changed its name to Hormel Foods...
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 '50s, two comic book series were published named after him. Eastern Color published 12 issues of Buster Crabbe Comics from 1951–53, followed by Lev Gleason's The Amazing Adventures of Buster Crabbe for four issues in 1954.
Death
He died on April 23, 1983, aged 75, from a heart attackMyocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
after tripping over a wastebasket in his Scottsdale
Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale is a city in the eastern part of Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2010 the population of the city was 217,385...
, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
home. He was buried in the Green Acres Memorial Park in Scottsdale.
Timeline
- 1908 Birth of "Clarence Linden Crabbe" in OaklandOakland, CaliforniaOakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
- 1910 US Census with the Crabbes in California
- 1928 Olympics
- 1931 graduated from the University of Southern CaliforniaUniversity of Southern CaliforniaThe University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
- 1932 Olympics, won gold medal in 400 meter freestyle
- 1933 played the title role in Tarzan the FearlessTarzan the FearlessTarzan the Fearless is a 12 chapter film serial starring Buster Crabbe in his only appearance as Tarzan. It was also released as a 71-minute feature film which comprised the first four chapters of the serial version. Co-starring was actress Jacqueline Wells, who later changed her name to Julie...
- 1936 played the title role in Flash GordonFlash Gordon (serial)Flash Gordon is a 1936 science fiction film serial. Told in 13 installments, it was the first screen adventure for the comic-strip character Flash Gordon, and tells the story of his first visit to the planet Mongo and his encounter with the evil Emperor Ming the Merciless. Buster Crabbe, Jean...
- 1938 played the title role in Flash Gordon's Trip to MarsFlash Gordon's Trip to MarsFlash Gordon's Trip to Mars is a 1938 serial film of 15 episodes, based on the comic strip Flash Gordon. It is the second of three Flash Gordon serials made between 1936 and 1940....
- 1939 played the title role in Buck RogersBuck Rogers (serial)Buck Rogers is a Universal serial film based on the Buck Rogers comic strip, starring Buster Crabbe as the eponymous hero, Constance Moore, Jackie Moran and Anthony Warde.-Plot:...
- 1940 played the title role in Flash Gordon Conquers the UniverseFlash Gordon Conquers the UniverseFlash Gordon Conquers the Universe is a 1940 twelve episode serial film about Flash Gordon. It was the last of three Flash Gordon serials made from 1936 to 1940. The serial was produced and copyrighted by Universal Pictures....
- 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
- 1979 Guest starred in the "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century episode "Planet of the Slave Girls" as an aged pilot named "Gordon," a tongue-in-cheek reference to his role as Flash Gordon
- 1983 Death of Buster Crabbe in Scottsdale, ArizonaScottsdale, ArizonaScottsdale is a city in the eastern part of Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2010 the population of the city was 217,385...
at age 75
External links
- Buster Crabbe at Brian's Drive-In Theater
- Buster Crabbe Biography by Chuck Anderson