Johnny Crawford

Acting

Johnny Crawford

Born 1946-03-26 · Los Angeles, California, USA

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.

Acting credits

The Thirteenth Floor poster
7.1

In Los Angeles, a wealthy man, known as Mr. Fuller, discovers a shocking secret about the world he lives in. Fearing for his life, he leaves a desperate message for a friend of his in the most unexpected place.

The Thirteenth Floor

1999

El Dorado poster
7.4

Cole Thornton, a gunfighter for hire, joins forces with an old friend, Sheriff J.P. Harrah. Together with a fighter and a gambler, they help a rancher and his family fight a rival rancher that is trying to steal their water.

El Dorado

1966

The Shootist poster
7.1

Afflicted with a terminal illness John Bernard Books, the last of the legendary gunfighters, quietly returns to Carson City for medical attention from his old friend Dr. Hostetler. Aware that his days are numbered, the troubled man seeks solace and peace in a boarding house run by a widow and her son. However, it is not Books' fate to die in peace, as he becomes embroiled in one last valiant battle.

The Shootist

1976

The Movie Orgy poster
6.8

Clips from assorted television programs, B-movies, commercials, music performances, newsreels, bloopers, satirical short films and promotional and government films of the 1950s and 1960s are intercut together to tell a single story of various creatures and societal ills attacking American cities.

The Movie Orgy

1968

Bloodhounds of Broadway poster
5.7

On New Year's Eve 1928, in the New York underworld, a gambler sells his body to science, a gangster needs a transfusion, and a gambler is on the run

Bloodhounds of Broadway

1989

The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit poster
6.7

Tom Rath is a suburban father and husband haunted by his memories of World War II, including a wartime romance with Italian village girl Maria, which resulted in an illegitimate son he's never seen. Pressed by his unhappy wife to get a higher-paying job, Rath goes to work as a public relations man for television network president Ralph Hopkins. Drawn into poisonous office politics, Tom finds he must choose his career or his family.

The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

1956

The Gambler: The Adventure Continues poster
7.0

Brady Hawkes, Billy Montana, and Jeremiah Hawkes are on a train bound for a huge gambling event when the train is taken over by a gang of vicious killers in search of money. As ransom, the gang takes young Jeremiah hostage. Brady and Billy embark on a quest to rescue him and form a small gang of their own along the way.

The Gambler: The Adventure Continues

1983

The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw poster
4.8

Hawkes, Jones and Cassidy are on their way to the biggest poker game in history. But a few folks want to see them fold before they even get there.

The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw

1991

The inbreaker poster
9.0

Film directed by George Mccowan

The inbreaker

1974

Crossbow: The Movie poster
6.3

A made-for-tv movie based on tv series 'Crossbow'.

Crossbow: The Movie

1989

Village of the Giants poster
3.7

"Genius" accidentally invents "goo" which causes living things to rapidly grow to an enormous size. Seeing an opportunity to get rich, some delinquent teenagers steal the "goo" and, as a result of a sophomoric dare, consume it themselves and become thirty feet tall. They then take over control of the town by kidnapping the sheriff's daughter and dancing suggestively.

Village of the Giants

1965

The Naked Ape poster
4.4

Somewhat based on Desmond Morris's fascinating book of pop anthropology, this partially animated satirical docudrama produced by Playboy Magazine publisher Hugh Hefner, traces the evolution of human kind and offers insight into the reasons why we behave the way we do. Though often dealing with sexuality, nothing in the film is terribly offensive or graphic. A prime example of mainstream experimental film-making from the early 70's featuring a young and breathtakingly lovely Victoria Principal.

The Naked Ape

1973

The Space Children poster
4.2

A glowing brain-like creature arrives on a beach near a rocket test site via a teleportation beam. The alien communicates telepathically with the children of scientists. The kids start doing the alien's bidding as the adults try to find out what's happening to their unruly offspring.

The Space Children

1958

The Great Texas Dynamite Chase poster
4.9

Candy and Ellie Jo are a pair of sexy bank robbers who blast their way into small-town banks with a carload of dynamite! When they take Slim hostage, it begins a thrill-packed crime spree across the state of Texas.

The Great Texas Dynamite Chase

1976

When the West Was Fun: A Western Reunion poster
NR

Some of TV and film's popular western actors reunite in this tribute special hosted by Glenn Ford.

When the West Was Fun: A Western Reunion

1979

Bill Tilghman and the Outlaws poster
6.5

A movie company comes to Oklahoma to convince legendary lawmen Bill Tilghman to star in a bank robbery silent film featuring real outlaws. Tilghman reluctantly agrees, not realizing everyone's lives will never be the same.

Bill Tilghman and the Outlaws

2019

Sonic Boom poster
5.6

Comedy short about a supersonic jet that lands in a small town and creates hysteria about an impending sonic boom that never happens.

Sonic Boom

1974

Indian Paint poster
6.0

Nishko is a chief's son in the Great Plains, before Europeans arrive. During his rite of passage, he's determined to tame a painted pony. He approaches manhood while his peaceful clan is set upon by a nearby tribe willing to break a treaty. He must also contend with the kidnapping of three young women from his village, his pony's illness behind enemy lines, his mother's coma after a rattlesnake bite, the medicine man's urging that he sacrifice what he loves best, the attack of a cougar and of wolves, and his own injury while alone in the woods. His kindness, bravery, and quick thinking serve him well, but rescue come from an unexpected source.

Indian Paint

1965

Macbeth poster
6.4

An adaptation of Shakespeare's play.

Macbeth

1981

Courage of Black Beauty poster
5.3

A young boy is given a colt to raise as his own.

Courage of Black Beauty

1957

The Resurrection of Broncho Billy poster
6.4

The story of a young man, a self-styled cowboy; His dreams of the Old West and its film heroes frequently crushed by the rhythms of modern, urban life.

The Resurrection of Broncho Billy

1970

No artwork available
NR

A documentary about teenage social clubs in Southern California.

One Man's Challenge

1962

The Restless Ones poster
5.6

A reporter doing a story on a Christian pastor who ministers to troubled teens doesn't realize that his own son is getting mixed up with a disturbed young girl and that both of them are headed for trouble.

The Restless Ones

1965