He was the host a children's series in New York City and starred in an NBC adventure series called "Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion". His debts were paid, but his acting skills grew less in demand. He developed several business interests including Buster Crabbe Swim Pools. He retired to Scottsdale, Arizona, and died there of a heart attack in 1983.
Crabbe was born on February 7, 1908 in Oakland, California to Edward Clinton Simmons Crabbe and Lucy Agnes McNamara Crabbe. His father was a real estate broker. He was named Clarence Linden Crabbe after his grandfather. Clarence had a brother named Edward Clinton Simmons Crabbe II who was a year younger. He was named for their father. Clarence was nicknamed "Buster" and Edward II was nicknamed "Buddy". Both boys kept these nicknames for the rest of their lives.
Buster's ancestors include Captain John Meek, a Massachusetts man who chose a life on the sea. Meek married an Hawaiian girl in 1820, and lived in the Hawaiian Islands. Their daughter Elizabeth married an American sailor named Horace Gates Crabb. Horace added an "e" to his last name. Elizabeth and Horace had a son in 1861 they named Charles Linden Crabbe. He went to the United States at the age of 20 to work on the railroads. He lived in Nevada, and married Emma Rich in 1881. In 1882, Charles and Emma became the parents of Edward Clinton Simmons Crabbe, Buster's father.
After four years in Nevada, Charles moved his family to Hawaii. He later went into the Hawaii State Senate. His son Edward went to school in Hawaii and then to college at the University of California, Berkeley. He dropped out of college to sell real estate in the San Francisco area. Edward Crabbe married Agnes McNamara in 1907. A business partner stole Crabbe's money in 1913, leaving him broke. He had no choice but to move his wife and sons to Oahu. They lived in the house of his parents. In later life, Buster said he always thought of the Islands his true home.
Buster Crabbe grew up in Hawaii. He started swimming on the beach at Waikīkī as a young boy. When his father became the manager of a pineapple plantation on Oahu, the whole family moved away from the beach. Buster and his brother had to stop swimming. A year after the move, Mr. Crabbe got a real estate job in Hilo, Hawaii. The family moved to Hilo, and the boys started swimming again when their father joined a yacht club. With all the moving about, it was not easy for the Crabbe boys to go to school. Buster was eight and a half years old when he joined the first grade in Hilo Union School.
When World War I started in 1918, Buster's father joined the Army. He graduated from Officer Candidate School, and moved his family to the Schofield Barracks in the center of Oahu. Once again, the boys were too far from the beach to go swimming. They rode horses instead, and went to the Honolulu Military Academy. When Buster's father was discharged from the Army in 1920, he moved his family to Honolulu. Mr. and Mrs. Crabbe were divorced about 1920. The two boys were placed in the custody of their father. They lived with their grandparents in Honolulu.
Buster went to the University of Hawaii in 1928 to study law. He was also offered a place at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Yale University offered him a scholarship based on his swim talent. Only his tuition would be paid, but Crabbe thought he could work to pay for other costs. Yale also had a famous swim team. This appealed to Crabbe. He visited Yale on his way to the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He liked Yale, and decided to go there instead of West Point. He was 20 when he went to Yale to study law.
Two weeks into his first year at Yale, Crabbe returned to Hawaii because his grandmother was dying. She did not die until the spring of 1929 though. Yale told Crabbe he could come back to the university on his scholarship, but he would have to start over as a freshman. He didn't want to do this. He applied to Stanford University, but was told the same thing. He was happy when he got a scholarship to the University of Southern California (USC) as a sophomore. He worked in a downtown Los Angeles store to make money, and joined the Sigma Chi fraternity. He was a member of USC's first swim team. He got his Bachelor of Science degree from USC in June 1931.
Buster started swimming as a very young boy. He was 15 years old when he joined his school's swim team. In his last year at school, he was captain of the team. He graduated with four letters in varsity sports. After high school, he competed in many swim meets and won many awards and titles.
He won a place on the 1928 Summer Olympics team, but became ill with the flu on his way to Amsterdam, where the Olympics were being held. He lost at least . He was not up to his usual strength, and won only a third place bronze medal in the 800-meter freestyle.
He kept training and competed in the 1932 Summer Olympics at Los Angeles. He won the gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle by a tenth of a second. This was a new world record. He was the only male swimmer to win Gold at the 1932 Summer Olympics. He became a sports superstar known around the world.
Crabbe's movie career started in 1930 while he was going to USC. He was an extra in a few movies about college football and did stunts for Joel McCrea in a suspense movie. Crabbe got his first big part in 1932. It was a Tarzan-like character called Kaspa. He signed a one-year contract with Paramount Pictures. He was paid $100 a week. The movie was called "King of the Jungle"; it opened in theaters in 1933.
Next, Crabbe had a small part in "Man of the Forest", a western with closeted gay actor Randolph Scott. It was Crabbe's first western. He would make many more during his movie career. Crabbe showed his bare chest in one scene, and was told to "put more wood on the fire". He had one two-word line, "Yes, boss". He was billed on movie posters as "the star of "King of the Jungle"". After "Forest", he had a few bit parts, and then went to Paramount's acting classes.
In 1933, Crabbe starred in "Tarzan the Fearless". It was the one and only time he played Tarzan. "Fearless" was a movie serial in 12-parts. A movie fan had to go to the theater every week for 12 weeks to see the whole movie. The movie was a failure. Crabbe made six more movies in 1933. He saved $3,700 from the money he made. He had enough money to go to law school if his contract was not renewed. His contract was renewed, however. His salary was raised to $150 per week. The movie studio changed his name to Larry "Buster" Crabbe.
In 1934, he was in six movies. Only two were for Paramount, the studio that hired him. He was in Ida Lupino's first American movie, "Search for Beauty", and in a W. C. Fields movie called, "You're Telling Me!" Paramount loaned him to RKO Pictures and Majestic Pictures for one movie each, and to Mayfair Pictures for two movies. These three studios billed him as Buster Crabbe.
In 1935, Paramount renewed his contract for the third time. He was paid $300 a week. He made only three movies for Paramount in 1935: two westerns and a college football movie. He did not make any movies for other studios.
In 1936, Crabbe learned that Universal Pictures was planning to produce Alex Raymond's science fiction comic strip, "Flash Gordon", as a movie serial. He went to try-outs, and was offered the part of Flash at once. Crabbe accepted. He was under contract to Paramount at the time, so Universal made arrangements to borrow him.
"Flash Gordon" is famous for being the most expensive and the most popular movie serial ever made in America. Universal had turned two other comic strips into successful serials: "Tailspin Tommy" in 1934 and its sequel "Tailspin Tommy in the Great Air Mystery" in 1935. The "Flash Gordon" comic strip was hugely popular.