Francis X. Bushman

At the peak of his career, he was known as "the King of Photoplay" before that title went to Clark Gable, with whom it remains today. Nevertheless, he is best remembered today as one of the original action heroes of the cinema. Mayer (of the then-fledgling Metro Goldwyn Mayer film studio). Crabbe's career waned somewhat in the 1950s, though he did make regular television appearances including one on an episode of the 1979 series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century where he plays a retired warrior named "Brigadier Gordon" in honor of Flash Gordon. His role as Messala in Ben-Hur in 1925 might have launched his career even further but for being blacklisted by Louis B. Crabbe starred in the television series, Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion (1955 to 1957) as Captain Michael Gallant; the adventure series aired on NBC. He was actually married four times. Other characters he portrayed included Western hero Billy the Kid and Buck Rogers.

His popularity waned when it was revealed that he was married. His next major role was as Flash Gordon in the popular Flash Gordon serial (a role he reprised in two sequels). Three days after his divorce with Josephine was final, Bushman and Bayne were married. In the 1933 movie, King of the Jungle the 1941's Jungle Man, and the 1952 serial, King of the Congo he played similar roles...but that's not Tarzan. In 1918, he was the subject of a huge scandal as his affair with longtime costar Beverly Bayne became a national scandal. Other than a 1964 remake of the same movie, it would be the only movie in which he starred as Tarzan. By the launch of his film career, the couple had five children. Crabbe's role in a 1933 Tarzan serial, also issued as a full length movie Tarzan the Fearless, launched a successful career in which he starred in over one hundred movies.

In 1902, he married seamstress Josephine Fladume. Ironically, at that Olympics, he broke the record held by Johnny Weissmuller, whose role as Tarzan he would later assume. He appeared in nearly 200 feature film roles - more than 175 films before 1920, 17 in his film debut year of 1911 alone. Raised in Hawaii, he excelled as a swimmer and participated in two Olympic Games: 1928, where he won the bronze medal for the 1,500 meter freestyle, and 1932, where he won the gold medal for the 400 meter freestyle. He was performing at Bronco Billy Anderson’s Essanay Studio in Chicago, Illinois, where he was first noticed for his muscular, sculpted frame. According to the Internet Movie Database he was born February 17, 1907, and his birth name was Clarence Linden Crabbe. He died in Pacific Palisades, California from a fall. Bushman, like many of his contemporaries, broke into film from stage. Larry 'Buster' Crabbe (February 7, probably in 1908, Oakland, California - April 23, 1983, Scottsdale, Arizona) was an American athlete turned actor, who starred in a number of popular serials in the 1930s and 1940s.

He was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Francis Xavier Bushman (January 10, 1883 – August 23, 1966) was the first major male movie star, first starting in 1911 in the silent film His Friend's Wife.