Trivia of Buster Crabbe

 Trivia of Buster Crabbe (7 February 1908 - 23 April 1983)

*Clarence Linden Crabbe II 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.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.

*His role in the Tarzan serial Tarzan the Fearless (1933) began his Hollywood career in which Crabbe starred in more than a hundred films.He is credited as "Larry Crabbe" or "Larry (Buster) Crabbe".James Pierce, who had previously played Tarzan for producer Sol Lesser, was originally contracted to play Tarzan in this film, but Lesser decided he had gained too much weight to believably play Tarzan and replaced him with Crabbe.

*Crabbe became a lion tamer while working on film King of The Jungle (1933). Reported that during a scene being rehearsed at Paramount Studios in which Crabbe was supposed to mix it up with a lion and put it to flight, the animal "got different ideas and took a nip at Crabbe's shank," inflicting a severe laceration. Crabbe who had only been signed for the film two days before, was taken to hospital where the wound was cauterized.

*Crabbe did not test for the title role of his most famous film Flash Gordon (1936); in fact, he thought the idea was too far out for movie audiences to accept and would be a box-office flop. However, he was a huge fan of the comic strip and was curious to see who would be cast, so he went to the tryouts and stood in the back of the room watching the testing. The series' producer, Henry MacRae, saw him, came over and offered him the role right away. It turned out that MacRae had seen several of Crabbe's films and thought he would be perfect for the role, but the series was being made by Universal and Crabbe was under contract to Paramount, and MacRae did not think Paramount would loan him out. MacRae asked him if he would do the role if a deal could be worked out with Paramount. Crabbe said okay, a deal was arranged, and Crabbe became Flash Gordon.

*He was the only actor who has played Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers and Tarzan - the top three pulp heroes of the 1930s.

*He portrayed a Western folk-hero version of Billy the Kid in 13 films, and Billy Carson in 23 (between 1940 and 1946) along with Al St. John as his sidekick.The films were shot in 10 or 12 days each, with an average cost of $25,000 a film.

*The self-described "King of the Serials," he starred in nine sound serials, more than any other actor: Tarzan the Fearless (1933), Flash Gordon (1936), Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars (1938), Red Barry (1938), Buck Rogers (1939), Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940), The Sea Hound (1947), Pirates of the High Seas (1950) and King of the Congo (1952).