On this day, March 26, 1946, Johnny Crawford was born.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Thu Mar 26, 2020: Born on this day, March 26, 1946: Johnny Crawford, of "The Rifleman"

Tue Mar 26, 2019: Happy 73rd birthday, Johnny Crawford.

{Edited: it's 2019. He's 73. Thanks.}

73? Johnny Crawford? Mark, from "The Rifleman?" Yep.

I know: "how did that happen?"

Johnny Crawford



Johnny Crawford in The Rifleman (1961)

Born: John Ernest Crawford
March 26, 1946 {age 73}, Los Angeles, California, U.S.

Relatives: Robert L. Crawford, Jr. (brother)
Website: Johnny Crawford fansite



Johnny Crawford and Chuck Connors in The Rifleman (1960)

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 series The Rifleman, for which he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Emmy Award at age 13.

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.

Family life

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).

Career

Crawford began his career as a child actor. One of The Walt Disney Company's original Mouseketeers in 1955, he 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.

Crawford was nominated for an Emmy Award as Best Supporting Actor, at age 13, for his role as Mark McCain, the son of Lucas McCain, played by Chuck Connors, in the American Broadcasting Company's series produced by Four Star Television, The Rifleman. Throughout The Rifleman's five seasons, a remarkable on-screen chemistry existed between Connors and Crawford in the depiction of their father-son relationship. They were still close friends when Connors died on November 10, 1992, and Crawford gave a eulogy at Connors' memorial service.

{snip}

While enlisted in the United States Army for two years, Crawford worked on training films as a production coordinator, assistant director, script supervisor, and occasional actor. His rank was sergeant at the time of his honorable discharge in December 1967.

{snip}

The Resurrection of Broncho Billy was a USC student film Crawford agreed to do as a favor to his close friend, producer John Longenecker. It won the 1970 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Subject.

{snip}

Here he is at age 10:

As a Mouseketeer:

MickeyMouseClubChannel
Published on Feb 3, 2017

This is the recycled roll call segment featured every Friday on the first season (1955-1956) for Talent Round-Up Day. According to Annette Funicello's autobiography, "A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes", this was the first number she ever took part in with the mouseketeers.

Featuring:
Karen Pendleton
Cubby O'Brien
Doreen Tracey
Mark Sutherland (in for Lonnie Burr for some reason)
Darlene Gillespie
Johnny Crawford
Nancy Abbate
Mike Smith
Annette Funicello
Don Underhill
Sharon Baird
Bobby Burgess
Roy Williams
and Jimmie Dodd.

WARINING: THIS CHANNEL IS NOT AFFILIATED OR ASSOCIATED WITH THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY IN ANY WAY. ALL CONTENT ON THIS CHANNEL IS OWNED BY THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY.

They grow up so fast:

davekcomics
Published on Oct 24, 2008

kim darby and johnny crawford

The Resurrection of Broncho Billy:

The Resurrection of Broncho Billy 1970 - Cortometraje
11,428 views Oct 6, 2016

Cortos En Corto
969 subscribers

{snip}

MeTV shows an hour of "The Rifleman" every weekday afternoon and Saturday afternoon. Don't expect to see these scenes anytime soon.

Danny B
Published on Jul 31, 2014

Classic

Added for 2022:

Johnny Crawford - "No One Really Loves A Clown" Shivaree Show. Early David gates song.
20,223 views Mar 18, 2021

Cucamonga Sewing Circle
592 subscribers

[doc03]

1. Paw paw. nt

[JohnSJ]

2. Another casualty of covid

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. I don't think that was the cause of his death. He had had Alzheimer's disease for some time.

I see at Wikipedia that he had contracted COVID-19, but I don't know if that was his cause of death. He had a host of problems.

Obituaries

Johnny Crawford, who became a child star as the son of ‘The Rifleman,’ dies at 75

By Harrison Smith
April 30, 2021 at 9:14 p.m. EDT



Child actor Johnny Crawford starred on “The Rifleman,” which ran on ABC from 1958 to 1963, with former pro baseball player Chuck Connors, who played his gunslinging father. (Everett Collection)

Johnny Crawford, who reigned as one of television’s most popular young actors while starring as Chuck Connors’s sensitive son on “The Rifleman,” then parlayed his screen success into a string of Top 40 hits as a teenage crooner in the early 1960s, died April 29 at an assisted-living home in the Sun Valley section of Los Angeles. He was 75.

He had Alzheimer’s disease, said his wife, Charlotte McKenna-Crawford, and was in declining health after being hospitalized last year for covid-19 and pneumonia.

{snip}

By Harrison Smith
Harrison Smith is a reporter on The Washington Post's obituaries desk. Since joining the obituaries section in 2015, he has profiled big-game hunters, fallen dictators and Olympic champions. He sometimes covers the living as well, and previously co-founded the South Side Weekly, a community newspaper in Chicago. Twitter https://twitter.com/harrisondsmith

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. Actor/singer Johnny Crawford was #BornOnThisDay, March 26, 1946.

Actor/singer Johnny Crawford was #BornOnThisDay, March 26, 1946. Remembered for his TV role in, The Rifleman, (1958-'63) & for the film Village of the Giants (1965). Suffering from #Alzheimers he passed on April 29, 2021 (age 75) from contracting #COVID19 & pneumonia #RIP #BOTD

Link to tweet