Johnny Sheffield

Johnny Sheffield
Sheffield and Johnny Weissmuller in Tarzan Finds a Son!
Born	John Matthew Sheffield Cassan (1931-04-11)April 11, 1931 Pasadena, California, U.S.
Died	October 15, 2010 (aged 79) Chula Vista, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1939–1955
Spouse(s)	Patricia Sheffield (1959–2010) (his death) 3 children

Johnny Sheffield (April 11, 1931 – October 15, 2010) was an American child actor.

Sheffield was born John Matthew Sheffield Cassan in Pasadena, California, the second child of actor Reginald Sheffield and Louise Van Loon (January 21, 1905 – April 14, 1987). His older sister was Mary Alice Sheffield Cassan and his younger brother was William Hart Sheffield Cassan (actor Billy Sheffield). His father was himself a former juvenile performer when he came to the United States from his native England. His mother, a native of New York City, was a Vassar College graduate with a liberal arts education who loved books and lectured widely.

In 1938, Sheffield became a child star after he was cast in the juvenile lead of a West Coast production of the highly successful Broadway play On Borrowed Time, which starred Dudley Digges and featured Victor Moore as Gramps. Sheffield played the role of Pud, a long role for a child. He later went to New York as a replacement and performed the role on Broadway.

The following year, his father read an article in the Hollywood Reporter that asked, "Have you a Tarzan Jr. in your backyard?" He believed he did and set up an interview. MGM was searching for a suitable youngster to play the adopted son of Tarzan in its next jungle movie with stars Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan. When he was 5 years old, Sheffield was taken to an audition where Weissmuller chose him over more than 300 juvenile actors interviewed for the part of "Boy" in Tarzan Finds a Son (1939). In that same year, Sheffield appeared in the Busby Berkeley movie musical Babes in Arms with Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, classmates of his at the studio school.