Acting
Johnny Sheffield
Born 1931-04-11 · Pasadena, California, USA
Johnny Sheffield (born John Matthew Sheffield Cassan) was an American child, teen, and young-adult actor, his screen career lasting from 1938 to 1955. 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. 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. He appeared with many other performers over the years, including Jeanette MacDonald, Pat O'Brien, Cesar Romero, Ronald Reagan and Beverly Garland. He played the childhood version of the title character in Knute Rockne, All American, perhaps the most prestigious film in which he had a role. Sheffield played Boy in three Tarzan movies at MGM, and in another five after the star, Weissmuller, and production of the movie series moved to RKO. Brenda Joyce played Jane in the last three Tarzan movies in which Sheffield appeared. After he outgrew the role of Boy, the teenaged Sheffield went on to star in his own jungle movie series for Allied Artists. In 1949, he made Bomba, the Jungle Boy with co-star Peggy Ann Garner. In all, he appeared as Bomba 12 times, more than any other character he portrayed. Sheffield appeared in his last movie, as Bomba, in 1955. He then made a pilot for a television series, Bantu the Zebra Boy, which was created, produced and directed by his father, Reginald Sheffield. Although the production values were high compared to other TV jungle shows of the day, a sponsor was not found and the show was never produced as a weekly series.
Acting credits
6.1A letter from Jane, who is nursing British troops, asks Tarzan's help in obtaining a malaria serum extractable from jungle plants. Tarzan and Boy set out across the desert looking for the plants. Along the way they befriend a stranded American lady magician.
Tarzan's Desert Mystery
1943
6.2The story of legendary Notre Dame football player and coach Knute Rockne.
Knute Rockne All American
1940
5.9A scientific expedition happens to discover that gold exists on Tarzan's escarpment. The villainous Medford and Vandermeer kidnap Jane and Boy to extort from Tarzan the location of the gold.
Tarzan's Secret Treasure
1941
6.4Circus owner Buck Rand kidnaps Boy to perform in his show. He forces a pilot to fly him, Boy and his animal trainer out of the jungle. Tarzan and Jane follow them to New York.
Tarzan's New York Adventure
1942
5.8A tribe devoted to the leopard cult is dedicated to preventing civilization from moving further into Africa.
Tarzan and the Leopard Woman
1946
6.4Mickey Moran, son of two vaudeville veterans, decides to put up his own vaudeville show with his girlfriend Patsy Barton. But child actress Rosalie wants to make a comeback and replace Patsy both professionally and as Mickey's girl.
Babes in Arms
1939
6.4A group of archaeologists asks Tarzan to help them find an ancient city in a hidden valley of women. He refuses, but Boy is tricked into doing the job. The queen of the women asks Tarzan to help them.
Tarzan and the Amazons
1945
6.1A young couple die in a plane crash in the jungle. Their son is found by Tarzan and Jane who name him Boy and raise him as their own. Five years later a search party comes to find the young heir to millions of dollars. Jane agrees, against Tarzan's will, to lead them to civilization.
Tarzan Finds a Son!
1939
6.2Zandra, white princess of a lost civilization, comes to Tarzan for help when Nazis invade the jungle with plans to conquer her people and take their wealth. Tarzan, the isolationist, becomes involved after the Nazis shoot at him and capture Boy: "Now Tarzan make war!"
Tarzan Triumphs
1943
5.7A shortage of zoo animals after World War II brings beautiful animal trainer Tanya, her financial backer and her cruel trail boss to the jungle. After negotiating a quota with the native king, they take more animals than allowed. Tarzan intervenes.
Tarzan and the Huntress
1947
6.3A sudden windfall has unexpected consequences on a working class girl during the Great Depression.
Million Dollar Baby
1941
7.2The glorious and tragic story of American athlete and actor Johnny Weissmuller (1904-84), Olympic swimmer, water polo player and the only true Tarzan, an archetypal character and myth of cinema, that of the original Hollywood blockbusters (1932-48).
The One, the Only, the Real Tarzan
2004
5.4Bomba the jungle boy swings into action when an elephant herd is threatened by ivory hunters.
Elephant Stampede
1951
5.1In this second film in the Bomba, the Jungle Boy series, Bomba tracks a dangerous panther.
Bomba on Panther Island
1949
6.0Cisco and Gordito arrive to find there is an outlaw operating in the area who is assumed to be the Cisco Kid. When a reward is offered for his capture and a large shipment of money goes out, Cisco is on hand. Seeing the gang rob the stage he goes after them only to be wounded. The gang leader leaves Cisco's handkerchief at the scene and now he is wanted for the murder he tried to break up.
Lucky Cisco Kid
1940
5.6Little David Gordon lives in the jungle with his parents Ruth and Fred, along with their servant Nona. David likes living there while his father captures wild animals; he's made friends with Bomba the jungle boy, who has shown him a great deal about life in the jungle. One day two adventurers come looking for ancient treasure in the shadow of a live volcano.
The Lost Volcano
1950
6.3A lion trapper and his daughter rendezvous with their hardheaded partner in the African jungle. Bomba, with assistance from a local tribe, strives to run them off.
The Lion Hunters
1951
5.6Bomba decides to find out who his parents were. He starts with Cody Casson's diary and follows the trail to a native village. An ancient blind woman tells him his parents and the village's true ruler were murdered by the current chieftain and his daughter.
Bomba and the Jungle Girl
1952
5.7Movie actress Linda Winters has gone into the jungle to find her lost husband Fred. Bomba the Jungle Boy helps in the rescue effort. A major obstacle facing them is a killer leopard which specializes in tearing people limb from limb.
Killer Leopard
1954
7.0Against stock footage of lions, elephants and wildebeasts, Bomba the Jungle Boy captures a pair of nefarious diamond smugglers.
African Treasure
1952
8.5Family film, based on a Booth Tarkington tale, about a young boy who takes extreme measures to keep the stray dog he befriends.
Little Orvie
1940
5.8George Harland and his daughter Pat are photographers who discover a wild boy in the jungle. When Pat becomes lost, Bomba brings her back, overcoming plagues of locusts, forest fires and fierce wild animals.
Bomba, the Jungle Boy
1949
5.0A nature photographer and his guide meet a corrupt emir with a dirty secret. Only jungle-dwelling Bomba knows the truth.
Bomba and the Hidden City
1950
4.8Prince Ali wants the Golden Idol of Watusi and hires a ruthless hunter to get it for him. Bomba has the idol and, with the help of Commissioner Barnes, Eli, and a beautiful archeologist, he foils Ali's plans.
The Golden Idol
1954