Crawford made his film debut for Sam Goldwyn in Woman Chases Man (1937). He was in Start Cheering (1938) at Columbia but missed out on reprising his stage performance as Lenny in the film version of Of Mice and Men, losing it to Lon Chaney Jr.

Crawford appeared in several B films before landing supporting roles in Beau Geste starring Gary Cooper, The Real Glory (1939), starring Cooper with David Niven, and Eternally Yours (1939) starring Niven and Loretta Young.

Universal gave Crawford the leading role in a "B" picture, I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby (1940). A series of supporting parts followed, most notably in Seven Sinners (1940), The Black Cat (1941), and Larceny, Inc.(1942).

During World War II, Crawford served in the United States Army Air Corps. Assigned to the Armed Forces Network, he was sent to Britain in 1944 as a sergeant and was one of two announcers for the Glenn Miller Band's weekly program I Sustain the Wings.^[3]

In 1949, Crawford was cast as Willie Stark, a character inspired by and closely patterned after the life of Louisiana politician Huey Long, in All the King's Men, based on the novel by Robert Penn Warren. The film was a huge hit, and Crawford won the Academy Award for Best Actor.^{[citation needed]}

Crawford went on to make several major films in the first half of the 1950s, including Born Yesterday (1950), Lone Star (1952), Last of the Comanches (1953), and Night People (1954).

In 1955, Crawford took on the starring role of Rollo Lamar, the most violent of convicts in Big House, U.S.A., in which Crawford's character is a hardened convict so violent he commands the obedience of even the most violent and psychotic prisoners in the prison yard, followed by a co-starring role in the hit Not as a Stranger (1955).

In 1955, television producer Frederick Ziv of ZIV Television Productions offered Crawford the lead role in the police drama Highway Patrol, which dramatized law enforcement activities of the California Highway Patrol (CHP). ZIV operated on a low budget of $25,000 per episode, with ten percent of gross receipts going to Crawford. While the show's scripts were largely fictional, the use of realistic, rapid-fire dialogue, stark film noir style and Crawford's convincing portrayal of a hard-as-nails police officer made the show an instant success. Highway Patrol remained popular during its four years (1955–1959) of first-run syndication, and continued in rerun syndication across the United States for many years. From 1955 until 1965, most of Crawford's television roles were for ZIV, which was one of the few producers willing to accept the challenges of working with the hard-living and alcoholic Crawford. Years later, Frederick Ziv said, "To be honest, Broderick could be a handful!"^[4]

Highway Patrol revived Crawford's career and cemented his tough-guy persona, which he used successfully in numerous roles for the rest of his life.

During the series' run he was in three significant films: The Fastest Gun Alive (1956) for director Russell Rouse at MGM, Between Heaven and Hell (1956) with Robert Wagner at Fox, directed by Richard Fleischer, and The Decks Ran Red (1958) with James Mason for Andrew L. Stone.

Fed up with its hectic shooting schedule, Crawford quit Highway Patrol at the end of 1959 to make a film in Spain.^[5]

Crawford's successful run on Highway Patrol earned him two million dollars, and he re-signed with ZIV for King of Diamonds. Having temporarily stopped drinking, Crawford played the starring role as diamond industry security chief John King.^[5] King of Diamonds was picked up for syndication in 1961, but lasted only one season, after which Crawford returned to motion pictures, most notably in The Oscar (1966) and The Texican (1966).

After 1970, Crawford returned to television. Along with numerous guestings on TV series and TV movies, he was Dr. Peter Goldstone in The Interns and starred as J. Edgar Hoover in The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover.

In 1977, he wore the trademark fedora and black suit as guest host of NBC's Saturday Night Live that included a spoof of Highway Patrol. He parodied his Dan Mathews character again that year in a commercial for Canada Dry Ginger Ale with Aldo Ray and Jack Palance. In an episode of CHiPs, Crawford appeared as himself, recognized after being stopped by Officer Poncherello Erik Estrada, who presses a reluctant Crawford to give his trademark line from Highway Patrol ("Twenty-One-Fifty to Headquarters").

In 1979, Crawford had a cameo in the film A Little Romance, and his last role was as a film producer who is murdered in a 1982 episode of Simon & Simon. Co-starring with him was Stuart Whitman, who had the recurring role of Sergeant Walters on Highway Patrol.

Crawford is referenced in the 1977 film Smokey and the Bandit when an Alabama State Patrol officer angrily confronts Sheriff Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason) and his damaged vehicle with its horn that won't stop blaring. When Justice starts to introduce himself, the trooper retorts, "I don't care if your name is Broderick Crawford."

Crawford died in 1986, aged 74 after a series of strokes.^[11]