Johnny Crawford

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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.

Filmography

Movies and shows, newest first

2019
Bill Tilghman and the Outlaws
Movie
1999
The Thirteenth Floor
Movie Singer
1992
Vicki!
TV show Self
1991
The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw
Movie Mark McCain
1989
Bloodhounds of Broadway
Movie Musician
1989
Crossbow: The Movie
Movie Prince Ignatius
1988
Paradise
TV show McKay
1987
Crossbow
TV show Prince Ignatius
1984
Murder, She Wrote
TV show Noah Paisley
1983
The Gambler: The Adventure Continues
TV show Masket
1983
The Gambler: The Adventure Continues
Movie Masket
1981
Macbeth
Movie Seyton
1979
When the West Was Fun: A Western Reunion
Movie Self
1976
The Shootist
Movie Books' Victim in Flashback (archive footage / uncredited)
1976
The Great Texas Dynamite Chase
Movie Slim
1974
The inbreaker
Movie

More credits

1974
Sonic Boom
Movie Charlton Heston
1973
The Naked Ape
Movie Lee
1970
The Making Of 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'
Movie Associate Producer
1970
The Resurrection of Broncho Billy
Movie Broncho Billy
1969
Hawaii Five-O
TV show Private Jerry Franklin
1968
Lancer
TV show
1968
The Movie Orgy
Movie Self (archive footage)
1966
El Dorado
Movie Luke MacDonald
1965
The Restless Ones
Movie David Winton
1965
Village of the Giants
Movie Horsey
1965
Indian Paint
Movie Nishko
1965
Branded
TV show Deputy Sheriff Clay Holden
1963
Mr. Novak
TV show JoJo Rizzo
1962
One Man's Challenge
Movie Self
1961
Mister Ed
TV show
1959
Rawhide
TV show Aaron Bolt
1958
The Rifleman
TV show Mark McCain
1958
The Donna Reed Show
TV show Victor
1958
The Space Children
Movie Ken Brewster
1957
Trackdown
TV show Eric Paine
1957
Wagon Train
TV show Jimmy Bennett
1957
Have Gun, Will Travel
TV show
1957
Courage of Black Beauty
Movie Bobby Adams
1956
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
TV show Billy Prescott