The incident marked the start of a controversy that claimed the posts of several high ranking naval, government and intelligence service personnel. It was claimed to be the missing body of Buster Crabbe – but many had doubts. He was never seen alive again.Ī badly decomposed body, with head and hands missing, was discovered by fishermen in Chichester harbour months later. His top secret mission was to photograph the hull, propellers and rudder of the Ordzhonikidze. However, on the morning of 19 th April 1956 Commander Lionel ‘Buster’ Crabbe, an experienced naval diver, slipped into the cold waters of Portsmouth harbour. The ships were moored in Portsmouth harbour and the Prime Minister, Sir Anthony Eden, had expressly forbidden any clandestine inspection of them. The Soviet Cruiser Ordzhonikidz, supported by two destroyers, had brought Soviet leaders Khruschev and Bulganin to Britain for sensitive meetings with the British Government. Sande died of what appeared to be anorexia in 1957, she was 20 years old and weighed only 60 pounds.It was the height of the Cold War. They had two daughters, Sande and Susan, and a son, Cullen. Buster and Virginia remained together until Buster’s death in 1983. In 1933 he married his college sweetheart Adah Virginia Held, and gave himself one year to either make it as an actor or start law school at USC. He also became a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity before graduating from USC in 1931. He attended the University of Southern California, where he was the school’s first All-American swimmer and a 1931 NCAA freestyle titlist. 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. Raised in Hawaii, he graduated from the Punahou School in Honolulu. The Encyclopædia Britannica uses an incorrect birthdate based on his Hollywood publicity biography.

His birth certificate and his Social Security application both use the birthdate of February 7, 1908. Like many Hollywood stars there is a conflict between the birthdate given in his official documents, and the one used in his Hollywood publicity biographies.

In 1910 the family was living in a boarding house in Oakland and Edward senior was working as a real estate broker. Buster had a brother, Edward Clinton Simmons Crabbe II, who was known as “Buddy”. His father was born in Nevada and his paternal grandfather, Clarence Linden Crabbe I, was born in Hawaii. He was born as Clarence Linden Crabbe II to Lucy Agnes McNamara and Edward Clinton Simmons Crabbe I in Oakland, California. Clarence Linden “Buster” Crabbe was an American athlete and actor, who starred in a number of popular serials in the 1930s and 1940s.

Buster crabbe