diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/executor/CoarseGrainedExecutorBackend.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/executor/CoarseGrainedExecutorBackend.scala
index e912ae8a5d3c5..18229e764bb18 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/executor/CoarseGrainedExecutorBackend.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/executor/CoarseGrainedExecutorBackend.scala
@@ -22,11 +22,12 @@ import java.nio.ByteBuffer
 import akka.actor._
 import akka.remote._
 
-import org.apache.spark.{Logging, SecurityManager, SparkConf}
+import org.apache.spark.{SparkEnv, Logging, SecurityManager, SparkConf}
 import org.apache.spark.TaskState.TaskState
 import org.apache.spark.deploy.SparkHadoopUtil
 import org.apache.spark.deploy.worker.WorkerWatcher
 import org.apache.spark.scheduler.cluster.CoarseGrainedClusterMessages._
+import org.apache.spark.scheduler.TaskDescription
 import org.apache.spark.util.{AkkaUtils, Utils}
 
 private[spark] class CoarseGrainedExecutorBackend(
@@ -61,12 +62,14 @@ private[spark] class CoarseGrainedExecutorBackend(
       logError("Slave registration failed: " + message)
       System.exit(1)
 
-    case LaunchTask(taskDesc) =>
-      logInfo("Got assigned task " + taskDesc.taskId)
+    case LaunchTask(data) =>
       if (executor == null) {
         logError("Received LaunchTask command but executor was null")
         System.exit(1)
       } else {
+        val ser = SparkEnv.get.closureSerializer.newInstance()
+        val taskDesc =ser.deserialize[TaskDescription](data.value)
+        logInfo("Got assigned task " + taskDesc.taskId)
         executor.launchTask(this, taskDesc.taskId, taskDesc.serializedTask)
       }
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/CoarseGrainedClusterMessage.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/CoarseGrainedClusterMessage.scala
index ddbc74e82ac49..ca74069ef885c 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/CoarseGrainedClusterMessage.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/CoarseGrainedClusterMessage.scala
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ private[spark] sealed trait CoarseGrainedClusterMessage extends Serializable
 private[spark] object CoarseGrainedClusterMessages {
 
   // Driver to executors
-  case class LaunchTask(task: TaskDescription) extends CoarseGrainedClusterMessage
+  case class LaunchTask(data: SerializableBuffer) extends CoarseGrainedClusterMessage
 
   case class KillTask(taskId: Long, executor: String, interruptThread: Boolean)
     extends CoarseGrainedClusterMessage
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/CoarseGrainedSchedulerBackend.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/CoarseGrainedSchedulerBackend.scala
index a6d6b3d26a3c6..7b927314eef48 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/CoarseGrainedSchedulerBackend.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/CoarseGrainedSchedulerBackend.scala
@@ -27,10 +27,10 @@ import akka.actor._
 import akka.pattern.ask
 import akka.remote.{DisassociatedEvent, RemotingLifecycleEvent}
 
-import org.apache.spark.{Logging, SparkException, TaskState}
+import org.apache.spark.{SparkEnv, Logging, SparkException, TaskState}
 import org.apache.spark.scheduler.{SchedulerBackend, SlaveLost, TaskDescription, TaskSchedulerImpl, WorkerOffer}
 import org.apache.spark.scheduler.cluster.CoarseGrainedClusterMessages._
-import org.apache.spark.util.{AkkaUtils, Utils}
+import org.apache.spark.util.{SerializableBuffer, AkkaUtils, Utils}
 
 /**
  * A scheduler backend that waits for coarse grained executors to connect to it through Akka.
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ class CoarseGrainedSchedulerBackend(scheduler: TaskSchedulerImpl, actorSystem: A
   var totalCoreCount = new AtomicInteger(0)
   val conf = scheduler.sc.conf
   private val timeout = AkkaUtils.askTimeout(conf)
+  private val akkaFrameSize = AkkaUtils.maxFrameSizeBytes(conf)
 
   class DriverActor(sparkProperties: Seq[(String, String)]) extends Actor {
     private val executorActor = new HashMap[String, ActorRef]
@@ -141,7 +142,18 @@ class CoarseGrainedSchedulerBackend(scheduler: TaskSchedulerImpl, actorSystem: A
     def launchTasks(tasks: Seq[Seq[TaskDescription]]) {
       for (task <- tasks.flatten) {
         freeCores(task.executorId) -= scheduler.CPUS_PER_TASK
-        executorActor(task.executorId) ! LaunchTask(task)
+        val ser = SparkEnv.get.closureSerializer.newInstance()
+        val taskBytes = ser.serialize(task).array()
+        val serializedTask = ser.serialize(taskBytes)
+        if (serializedTask.limit >= akkaFrameSize - 1024) {
+          var msg = "Serialized task %s:%d were %d bytes which " +
+            "exceeds spark.akka.frameSize (%d bytes)."
+          msg = msg.format(task.taskId, task.index, serializedTask.limit, akkaFrameSize)
+          val exception = new SparkException(msg)
+          logError(msg, exception)
+          throw exception
+        }
+        executorActor(task.executorId) ! LaunchTask(new SerializableBuffer(serializedTask))
       }
     }