The series started filming in April 1954. Crabbe's old friend Fuzzy Knight joined the cast. Outdoor scenes were filmed in North Africa. Indoor scenes were shot in Paris and Rome. The series stopped filming in October 1954. It had its television premiere on February 13, 1955. Children and long-time Crabbe fans loved the series. A fan club for Cuffy was started. Charlton Comics published four comic books based on the series in 1955 and 1956.
Tragedy struck the Crabbe family in 1957. When Crabbe's daughter "Sande" was a 20-year-old college student at USC, she had an obsession with dieting. She thought she needed to be as thin as possible for boys to be attracted to her. Her parents were worried. They got medical treatment for Sande and psychoanalysis, but she died April 10, 1957 of malnutrition. She weighed .
In all, there were sixty-five 30-minute black and white episodes. The series completed its first television run in February 1957. Reruns were televised between 1960 and 1963. Cullen Crabbe dropped acting when the series ended. In 1970, he said the only reason he played in the series was because no one could find a boy whose parents would let him live and work in North Africa for two years.
Crabbe was on television now and then after "Captain Gallant". He was in an episode of the "Ellery Queen" series in 1959, and co-hosted a 1961 NBC Easter television special with Rosemary Clooney called "Marineland Circus". In December 1965, CBS televised ceremonies at the Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Crabbe was there because he was going to become a member of the Hall of Fame. Crabbe was in two episodes of the "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" television series in 1979, and one episode of "B. J. and the Bear" in 1981. This episode was the last time he was on television.
Crabbe was bankrupt after the disaster of his "The Aqua Parade". He looked about for ways to make money and to pay off his debts. His name was used to promote a New York health club, and he hosted a women's exercise television program, "Figure Fashioning". He was swim director at a hotel in the Catskill Mountains.
In 1952, he moved his family to New Jersey and taught swimming at Palisades Amusement Park. The same year, he made his "live" television debut on "Philco Playhouse" and then made his ninth and last movie serial, "King of the Congo".
In 1966, Crabbe passed an exam to become a New York City stockbroker with the Wall Street firm of Lieberbaum, Richter & Co. He led the annual Red Cross swim sessions at the Durland Scout Center in Rye, New York, and in 1969 continued his association with the Concord Hotel as Director of Water Activities. He also had two camps in the Adirondacks: a summer camp for young boys and a co-educational water camp for teenagers. He kept up with his work for Cascade Pools. In 1970, he wrote "Energistics", an exercise book for old people.
Crabbe died of a heart attack in Scottsdale, Arizona at the age of 75. He was soon buried at the Green Acres Memorial Park in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Crabbe was the only actor to play the three greatest pulp fiction heroes of the 1930s Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, and Tarzan. His early fame was renewed when nostalgia-minded television viewers discovered his Flash Gordon serials in the 1970s. In 2013, the three Flash Gordon serials, the Buck Rogers serial, and the Tarzan serial were all available on DVD.
In 1973, a poll on the University of Maryland campus revealed that the Flash Gordon serials were third on the student nostalgia charts. He was behind W. C. Fields and the Marx Brothers. The serials were shown on college campuses and on nationwide television channels. The New York City Public Broadcasting channel leased the serials, and televised them during the 7 p.m. news programs of other channels. The nationwide interest in the serials led to Crabbe being invited to make personal appearances in many places and to give talks on college campuses.
On his acting talent, Crabbe once said, "Some of my acting rose to the level of incompetence, and then leveled off. I was a lot better actor than people gave me credit for. I didn't have any training, but I feel that if I had been given the chance, I could have become a really good, top-rate actor."
At another time he said, "I always wished I could have been in one really good film. But they decide you're a guy who can fall off a horse and take a breakaway table over you're head, and there's nothing you can do about it ... Many fans have told me they saw in my portrayals a moralistic mien, something they could identify with or fantasize about as children. There's a place for hero worship in any society. It gives people something to look up to, even if no real hero can ever live up to the image people have of them."
Jo Benkow
Jo Benkow (Josef Elias Benkowitz; 15 August 1924 – 18 May 2013) was a Norwegian politician and writer, notable for being an important person in the Conservative Party of Norway, and the President of the Parliament 1985-1993.
Benkow was born on 15 August 1924 in Trondheim, Norway. He was raised in Bærum, Norway. Benkow married twice, his second marriage was with fellow politician Annelise Høegh. He was the uncle of journalistic fraudster Bjørn Benkow. Benkow died on 18 May 2013 from natural causes in Oslo, Norway, aged 88.
Marcheline Bertrand
Marcia Lynne "Marcheline" Bertrand (May 9, 1950 – January 27, 2007) was an American actress and producer. She also co-founded the All Tribes Foundation, to culturally and economically benefit Native Americans, and the Give Love Give Life organization, to raise public awareness of women's cancers. She was the mother of Angelina Jolie.
She was born at St. Francis Hospital in Blue Island, Illinois. Bertrand was brought up in the nearby small town of Riverdale. Her parents were Lois June (née Gouwens; 1928–1973) and Rolland F. Bertrand (1923–1985). She had two younger siblings: a sister, Debbie, and a brother, Raleigh. Her father was of French Canadian ancestry, while her mother was of Dutch and German ancestry. She also claimed to be of Iroquois ancestry, although her only known Native American ancestor was a Huron woman born in 1649. According to her daughter, actress Angelina Jolie, Bertrand was often wrongly identified as a French actress, with Jolie saying, "My mom is as far from French Parisian as you can get. She grew up in a bowling alley that my grandparents owned." In 1965, Bertrand's family moved from the Chicago area to Beverly Hills, California. She attended Beverly Hills High School from second year through graduation.
She was married to Jon Voight from 1971 until they divorced in 1980. She was partners with Bill Day from 1978 until they separated in 1989. Then she was partners with John Trudell until her death in 2007. She had two children; Angelina Jolie and James Haven with Voight. Bertrand died on January 27, 2007 from Ovarian cancer in Los Angeles, California, aged 56.
In Bruges
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My Left Foot (movie)
My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown is a 1989 Irish drama movie directed by Jim Sheridan and starring Daniel Day-Lewis. It tells the true story of Christy Brown, an Irishman born with cerebral palsy, who could control only his left foot. Day-Lewis won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Christy Brown.
Oz the Great and Powerful
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