Clarence Linden "Buster" Crabbe II (/ˈkræb/; February 7, 1908 – April 23, 1983) was an American two-time Olympic swimmer and film and television actor.

[1] He won the 1932 Olympic gold medal for 400-meter freestyle swimming event, which launched his career on the silver screen and later television.

He starred in a variety of popular feature films and movie serials released between 1933 and the 1950s,[2] portraying the top three syndicated comic-strip heroes of the 1930s: Tarzan, Flash Gordon, and Buck Rogers.

He starred in several popular films at this time, including The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi (1933), alongside Betty Grable, Search for Beauty (1934), and Daughter of Shanghai (1937) credited as Larry Crabbe.

Crabbe starred at the Billy Rose's Aquacade at the New York World's Fair during its second year (1940), replacing fellow Olympic swimmer and Tarzan actor Johnny Weissmuller.

As a 34-year-old married man, Crabbe had a draft deferment, but made Army training films for the field artillery at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, along with St.

Following the war, Crabbe appeared opposite Weissmuller as a rival in two jungle films, Swamp Fire (1946) and Captive Girl (1950).

For his final multi-chapter movie serial, Crabbe returned to the jungle playing the role of Thun'da in King of the Congo (1952).

It was set against the backdrop of a ranch foreman's bunk house and featured Crabbe engaging his viewers with games, stories, craftmaking, hobbies, informational segments, and interviews with guest performers and personalities.

The Buster Crabbe Show was seen weekday evenings on WOR-TV (Channel 9) in New York City from Monday, March 12, 1951, to Friday, October 3, 1952.

He was also in a TV spot for Continental Airlines, where Crabbe spies himself in an old Flash Gordon short being shown on board: "I think I know that guy.

According to David Ragan's Movie Stars of the '30s, Crabbe owned a Southern California swimming pool-building company in later years.

Crabbe appeared as the father of a young swimmer in the comedy Swim Team (1979), and as a sheriff in the low-budget horror film Alien Dead (1980), followed by The Comeback Trail (1982), one year before his death.

Crabbe also appeared in television commercials[11] for Hormel Chili, Icy Hot, and the Magic Mold Bodyshirt, an upper body male girdle of sorts, which purportedly helped in weight loss.