Buster Crabbe

IMDB profile

Add to favorites

Edit page

Search at Amazon

Stats

Birth Name: Clarence Linden Crabbe

Born: 7 April 1908 Died: 23 April 1983

Country of origin: United States

Height: 6' 1"

Relationship Status: Married

Partner: Adah Virginia Held

Lists

10 votes

AFI's Male Legends Nominations (252 items)
list by garfield2710

Published 12 years, 4 months ago

1 comment

3 votes

Hollywood Walk of Fame - C (177 items)
list by filmbuilder

Published 10 years, 8 months ago

1 comment

View all Buster Crabbe lists

Buster Crabbe Videos

Movie Legends - Buster Crabbe

49 Views

Added 11 years ago

View all Buster Crabbe videos

Photos

3 votes

2 votes

View all Buster Crabbe pictures

Description: Buster Crabbe graduated from the University of Southern California. In 1931, while working on That's My Boy (1932) for Columbia Pictures, he was tested by MGM for Tarzan and rejected. Paramount Pictures put him in King of the Jungle (1933) as Kaspa, the Lion Man (after a book of that title but clearly a copy of the Tarzan stories). Publicity for this film emphasized his having won the 1932 Olympic 400-meter freestyle swimming championship and suggested a rivalry with Johnny Weissmuller. Producer Sol Lesser wanted Crabbe for an independent Tarzán de las fieras (1933), though he first had to get James Pierce to waive rights to th Buster Crabbe graduated from the University of Southern California. In 1931, while working on That's My Boy (1932) for Columbia Pictures, he was tested by MGM for Tarzan and rejected. Paramount Pictures put him in King of the Jungle (1933) as Kaspa, the Lion Man (after a book of that title but clearly a copy of the Tarzan stories). Publicity for this film emphasized his having won the 1932 Olympic 400-meter freestyle swimming championship and suggested a rivalry with Johnny Weissmuller. Producer Sol Lesser wanted Crabbe for an independent Tarzán de las fieras (1933), though he first had to get James Pierce to waive rights to the part already promised to him by his father-in-law, Edgar Rice Burroughs. The film was released as both a feature and a serial; most houses showed only the first serial episode, which critics panned as a badly organized feature. Just prior to the film's release, Crabbe married his college sweetheart and gave himself one year to either make it as an actor or start law school at USC. Paramount put him in a number of Zane Grey westerns, then Universal Pictures gave him the lead him in very successful sci-fi serials (Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers) from 1936-40. In 1940, he began a string of Billy the Kid westerns for low-budget (very low-budget) studio PRC. After World War II, he had devoted much of his time to his swimming pool corporation and operation of a boys' camp in New York. In 1950, he made the serials El crucero fantasma (1950) and King of the Congo (1952). In addition, he was very active on television in the 1950s. In 1953, he hosted a local show in New York City that featured his serials. He played the title role of the adventure series, Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion (1955). During television's "Golden Age", he had several "meaty" lead roles on such weekly anthology series as "Kraft Theater" ("Million Dollar Rookie") and "Philco Television Playhouse" ("Cowboy for Chris") He later returned to western features to play Wyatt Earp in Badman's Country (1958) and gave a stellar performance. Buster Crabbe died at age 75 of a heart attack on April 23, 1983. ... (more)