Celebrity Nooz: Johnny Crawford

Johnny Crawford (Actor/Singer) - The Rifleman

Updated: 10/02/19

Name: Johnny Crawford

Birth Name: John Ernest Crawford

Born: March 26, 1946 in Los Angeles, California, USA

Claim To Fame: Johnny Crawford is an American actor, singer, and musician who's best known for playing Mark McCain, the son of Chuck Connors' Lucas McCain, in the hit ABC Western series, The Rifleman (1958-1963).

Family Life: In 1990, Crawford reconnected with his high school sweetheart, Charlotte Samco. The two married in 1995 and are still together today.

Info: His acting mentor was the late Chuck Connors.

As a teen Crawford had a recording career that generated four Billboard Top 40 hits, including the single, "Cindy's Birthday", which peaked at number 8, in 1962. His other hits included "Rumors" (number 12, 1962), "Your Nose is Gonna Grow" (number 14, 1962), and "Proud" (number 29, 1963).

While serving in the Army in the late 1960s, he appeared in a number of period training films remembered by veterans of the times.

Brother of Robert Crawford Jr., son of Robert Crawford.

His maternal grandfather, Belgian violinist Alfred Megerlin (1880-1941), was concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic (1918-1922), the Minneapolis Symphony (1923-1926), and the Los Angeles Philharmonic (1927-1929).

His paternal grandfather, Robert "Bobby" Crawford (1889-1941), was a horse jockey from Chicago who changed his occupation to song "plugger" and became a very successful music publisher as the founder of De Sylva, Brown & Henderson and Crawford Music Corp.

Is of Russian, German, English and Irish ancestry.

Crawford gave a eulogy at Chuck Connors' memorial service.

Trivia: Crawford first performed before a national audience as a Mouseketeer.

Was nominated for an Emmy Award as Best Supporting Actor, at age 13, for his role as Mark McCain on The Rifleman.

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.

Crawford had a key role in the early career of comedian Victoria Jackson. After the two appeared together in a summer stock production of Meet Me in St. Louis, he presented her with a one-way ticket to California and encouraged her to pursue a Hollywood career. This led Jackson to early appearances on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, before she was cast as a regular on SNL.

A former member of the PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association) and the AJRA (American Junior Rodeo Association), he competed frequently at rodeos throughout the country during the 1960s and early 1970s.

Since 1992, Crawford has led a California-based vintage dance orchestra, named the JCO (Johnny Crawford Orchestra), which performs at special events.

Where Are They Now: Earlier this year Crawford starred in Bill Tilghman and the Outlaws, his first acting role since 1999. Crawford plays a legendary lawman that's convinced to star in a bank robbery silent film featuring real outlaws.

Sadly, in 2019, it was announced that Crawford had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

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