Johnny Crawford
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- March 26, 1946
- Died
- April 29, 2021 (aged 75)
- Birthplace
- Los Angeles, California, USA
Biography
John Ernest Crawford (March 26, 1946 – April 29, 2021) was an American actor, singer, and musician. He first performed before a national audience as a Mouseketeer. At age 12, Crawford rose to prominence playing Mark McCain in the ABC Western series, The Rifleman. Crawford was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor at age 13 for his work on The Rifleman, which aired from 1958 to 1963. Disney started out with 24 original Mouseketeers. However, at the end of the first season, the studio reduced the number to 12, and Crawford was released from his contract. His first important break as an actor followed with the title role in a Lux Video Theatre production of "Little Boy Lost", a live NBC broadcast on March 15, 1956. He also appeared in the popular Western series The Lone Ranger, in 1956, in one of the few color episodes of that series. Following that performance, the young actor worked steadily with many seasoned actors and directors. Freelancing for two and one-half years, he accumulated almost 60 television credits, including featured roles in three episodes of NBC's The Loretta Young Show and an appearance as Manuel in, "I Am an American", an episode of the syndicated crime drama Sheriff of Cochise. He starred as Bobby Adams in the 1958 drama "Courage of Black Beauty". By the spring of 1958, he had also performed 14 demanding roles in live teleplays for NBC's Matinee Theatre, appeared on CBS's sitcom, Mr. Adams and Eve, in the Wagon Train episode "The Sally Potter Story" (in which Martin Milner also appeared) and on the syndicated series, Crossroads, Sheriff of Cochise, and Whirlybirds, and made three pilots of TV series. The third pilot, which was made as an episode of Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, was picked up by ABC and the first season of The Rifleman began filming in July 1958. Crawford had a brief career as a recording artist in the 1950s and 1960s. He continued to act on television and in film as an adult. Beginning in 1992, Crawford led the California-based Johnny Crawford Orchestra, a vintage dance orchestra that performed at special events.
Known For
Filmography
Bill Tilghman and the Outlaws
Movie
The Thirteenth Floor
Movie · as Singer
Vicki!
TV · as Self · 1 ep
The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw
Movie · as Mark McCain
Bloodhounds of Broadway
Movie · as Musician
Crossbow: The Movie
Movie · as Prince Ignatius
Paradise
TV · as McKay · 1 ep
Crossbow
TV · as Prince Ignatius · 7 eps
Murder, She Wrote
TV · as Noah Paisley · 1 ep
The Gambler: The Adventure Continues
Movie · as Masket
The Gambler: The Adventure Continues
TV · as Masket · 2 eps
Macbeth
Movie · as Seyton
When the West Was Fun: A Western Reunion
Movie · as Self
The Great Texas Dynamite Chase
Movie · as Slim
The Shootist
Movie · as Books' Victim in Flashback (archive footage / uncredited)
Sonic Boom
Movie · as Charlton Heston
The inbreaker
Movie
The Naked Ape
Movie · as Lee
The Resurrection of Broncho Billy
Movie · as Broncho Billy
Hawaii Five-O
TV · as Private Jerry Franklin · 1 ep
The Movie Orgy
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
Lancer
TV · 1 ep
El Dorado
Movie · as Luke MacDonald
Village of the Giants
Movie · as Horsey
The Restless Ones
Movie · as David Winton
Indian Paint
Movie · as Nishko
Branded
TV · as Deputy Sheriff Clay Holden · 1 ep
Mr. Novak
TV · as JoJo Rizzo, USSR - United Nations Assembly · 1 ep
One Man's Challenge
Movie · as Self
Mister Ed
TV · 1 ep
Rawhide
TV · as Aaron Bolt · 1 ep
The Space Children
Movie · as Ken Brewster
The Donna Reed Show
TV · as Victor · 1 ep
The Rifleman
TV · as Mark McCain · 168 eps
Courage of Black Beauty
Movie · as Bobby Adams
Have Gun, Will Travel
TV · 1 ep
Wagon Train
TV · as Jimmy Bennett · 1 ep
Trackdown
TV · as Eric Paine · 2 eps
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
Movie · as Italian Boy with Groceries (uncredited)
The Count of Monte Cristo
TV · 1 ep
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
TV · as Billy Prescott, Mark McCain · 1 ep
Telephone Time
TV · 1 ep
The Mickey Mouse Club
TV · as Self · 103 eps
The Millionaire
TV · as Wally · 1 ep
Matinee Theater
TV · 11 eps
The Wonderful World of Disney
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Letter to Loretta
TV · as Freddy, Arthur Mullen, Bobby Wright · 1 ep
Cavalcade of America
TV · as Billy Brandon (as a boy) · 1 ep
The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
TV · 1 ep
Lux Video Theatre
TV · as Jerry, Jean · 1 ep
The Lone Ranger
TV · as Tommy McQueen · 1 ep