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Johnny Crawford

Johnny Crawford
The Rifleman Johnny Crawford 1961.jpg
Johnny Crawford in The Rifleman (1961)
Born John Ernest Crawford
(1946-03-26) March 26, 1946 (age 70)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation Actor, singer, musician, band leader
Years active 1954–99
Spouse(s) Charlotte Crawford (1995–present) (separated)
Relatives Robert L. Crawford, Jr. (brother)
Website Johnny Crawford fansite

John Ernest "Johnny" Crawford (born March 26, 1946) is an American character actor, singer, and musician. At age 12, Crawford rose to fame for playing Mark McCain, the son of Lucas McCain (played by Chuck Connors), in the popular ABC Western series, The Rifleman, which originally aired from 1958 to 1963. Crawford first performed before a national audience as a Mouseketeer.

Crawford was born in Los Angeles, the son of Betty (née Megerlin) and Robert Lawrence Crawford, Sr. His maternal grandparents were Belgian; his maternal grandfather was violinist Alfred Eugene Megerlin. In 1959, Johnny, his older brother Robert L. Crawford, Jr., a co-star of NBC's Laramie series, and their father Robert, Sr., were all nominated for Emmy Awards (the brothers for acting and their father for film editing).

One of The Walt Disney Company's original Mouseketeers, in 1955, Crawford has acted on stage, in films, and on television.

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 2 1/2 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. 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.


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