Buster Crabbe

Buster Crabbe, born Clarence Linden Crabbe II, was an American swimmer and actor whose sporting fame came first and carried him into film. He competed at two Olympic Games as a swimmer and won the gold medal in the 400 metre freestyle at the 1932 Games, a result that opened the way to a screen career. Over the following decades he appeared in feature films and movie serials released between 1933 and the 1950s, and he later worked in television. He is especially remembered for playing three of the best known syndicated comic-strip heroes of the 1930s, Tarzan, Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. His life ran from 1908 to 1983, and his pool victory is the foundation of the later acting fame.