Buster Crabbe's Serial Westerns: From Flash Gordon to Billy the Kid

Buster Crabbe (1908-1983) is arguably the most prolific serial-cinema star in Hollywood history. He starred as Tarzan, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, and Billy the Kid — playing four different iconic characters across roughly 200 features and serials between 1933 and 1955. His path from Olympic swimming pool to Western matinee idol is one of the more remarkable Hollywood career arcs of the studio era.

Before Hollywood: The Olympics

Clarence Linden "Buster" Crabbe was born in Oakland, California on February 7, 1908, and grew up in Honolulu, where his father managed the sugar plantations. He starred as a swimmer at Punahou School and later USC. In the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics he took bronze in the 1500-meter freestyle. In the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics he broke the world record in the 400-meter freestyle and took gold, defeating Jean Taris of France by a tenth of a second.

Within weeks of the Games, MGM offered him a screen test. Paramount signed him. His athletic physique — 6'1", broad shouldered, tan — was exactly what serial cinema needed at the exact moment adventure-serial production was ramping up.

Tarzan and Flash Gordon

Crabbe's first serial-cinema starring role came in Tarzan the Fearless (1933) — a 12-chapter Principal Pictures production shot rapidly to compete with MGM's newly successful Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan series. The picture is a curiosity today, but it launched Crabbe's serial career.

His iconic role arrived three years later: Flash Gordon (1936), a 13-chapter Universal Pictures serial adapted from Alex Raymond's newspaper comic strip. Crabbe as Flash — with dyed-blond hair and a fitted leather flight suit — traveled to the planet Mongo to confront Emperor Ming the Merciless. The serial was Universal's most expensive to date ($360,000) and its most successful. Two sequels followed: Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars (1938) and Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940).

George Lucas has repeatedly cited Crabbe's Flash Gordon as the direct origin of Star Wars — an intended remake that Lucas ultimately couldn't secure rights to, which pushed him to create his own space-opera universe instead.

Buck Rogers (1939)

Universal cast Crabbe as Buck Rogers in a 12-chapter 1939 serial to capitalize on the Flash Gordon success. He remains the only actor to have played both characters — an odd distinction that makes him one of the most iconic serial-adventure stars of the 1930s.

The Billy the Kid Series (1941-1946)

Between 1941 and 1946, Crabbe starred as Billy the Kid in a series of PRC Pictures B-Westerns — first billed as "Billy the Kid," then, after concerns about audience sympathies for an outlaw hero, rebranded to "Billy Carson." The series ran 36 films total, one of the longest continuous B-Western series ever produced.

These were quick 55-minute productions with minimal budgets. Crabbe's screen partner throughout the series was Al "Fuzzy" St. John, playing the comic-relief sidekick "Fuzzy Q. Jones." The films had recurring plots — Billy defending settlers from cattle barons, rustlers, or corrupt sheriffs — but Crabbe's earnest performance and reliable physical presence gave them a durability that better-remembered studios often lacked.

Notable entries in the series include Billy the Kid Trapped (1942), Sheriff of Sage Valley (1942), The Kid Rides Again (1943), Blazing Frontier (1943), Frontier Outlaws (1944), and Prairie Rustlers (1945). Nearly all are in the public domain.

Post-PRC Career

PRC dissolved in 1946. Crabbe transitioned to television in the 1950s, hosting his own children's programs and appearing in dozens of Western television series guest spots. He also became a competitive masters swimmer, setting world age-group records in the 1970s while in his sixties.

He died in Scottsdale, Arizona in April 1983 at age 75. His serial films — Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Tarzan, and the entire Billy the Kid series — are almost all in the public domain and freely available in HD restorations.

Why Crabbe Matters

Serial cinema was one of the largest single revenue sources in 1930s and 1940s Hollywood, and Crabbe was arguably its biggest continuous star. His Flash Gordon serials shaped Star Wars, superhero cinema, and every subsequent space-opera narrative. His Billy the Kid Westerns represent one of the most sustained B-Western series in history. His physical presence — an actual world-class athlete — brought a physical authenticity that no imitator matched.

The full Crabbe filmography is one of the largest single bodies of work available in the public domain. Working through his serials in chronological order is a masterclass in how serial-cinema functioned as its own coherent art form during Hollywood's classical era.