Johnny Crawford – American Actor, Singer And Musician

One of the original Musketeers of Walt Disney and one of the few surviving members of the cast of the popular ABC Western series titled The Rifleman has retired from active acting since 1999. Johnny Crawford who made his debut appearance in The Pinky Lee Show in the 1950’s has called it quits with the entertainment industry for almost two decades.

The ex-actor will always be remembered for the outstanding role he played on the set of The Rifleman where he portrayed the character of Mark McCain between 1958 and 1963.

Jonny did more acting gigs after the end of The Rifleman in the early 1960’s and in the year 1992, the song bird emerged as the leader of a California-based vintage dance orchestra. The multitalented entertainer is still alive and kicking and was involved in a 'Watch me on ME commercial which was tagged an intro to The Rifleman" rerun episodes in 2012.

Born into a family of singers and actors on the 26th day of March 1946 in LA California John Ernest Crawford who goes by the stage name Johnny Crawford is the son of Robert Lawrence Crawford Sr and Betty Crawford.

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According to the records, the Crawford family had four sons namely Corydon, Nance, Robert and Jonny. In the year 1959, Johnny and his big brother Robert Jr who is a renowned co-star of NBC's Laramie series got nominated for Emmy Awards in acting while their dad Robert, Sr was nominated in the category of film editing.

The famed singer cum band leader and actor who is of American nationality and a mixture of Irish, Russian, English and German ancestry graduated from Hollywood High School in 1964.

The 5 feet 8 inches artist has been active in the entertainment since 1954 and only took the conscious decision to retire from acting in 1999.

In the early 1970’s, Jonny was in a romantic entanglement with Debra Tate who is a sister to the deceased actress Sharon Tate and much later in the singer’s life, fate brought him and his old high school girlfriend Charlotte Samco together in 1990.

Their reconnection which rekindled old flames culminated in a marriage on the 14th day of February 1995. We are yet to ascertain whether the couple are still living together or separated but our guess is that the fire of love is no longer burning since Johnny is visibly dating another woman Kim Darby.

Johnny was still a child in the 1950’s when his acting career began with an appearance in The Pinky Lee Show. The emerging star became more focused on acting after six years and made several appearances on television series like; Make Room for Daddy which was shown between 1956 and 1958, The Lone Ranger which was the flavor of 1956 and Telephone Time which lasted from 1956 to 1957.

The actor’s big break came in 1958 when he was cast in the role of Mark McCain in Rifleman, a well-known television series which premiered in 1958 and concluded five years later in 1963. He also had roles in productions such as; Village of the Giants, The Restless Ones and Indian Paint which were shown in 1965, El Dorado in 1966, Hawaii Five-O in 1968 and The Big Valley which was released in 1969.

The multi-talented entertainer’s career declined during the 1970’s and he only got some minor roles in a few movies and TV series, but the tide changed after a decade when he started appearing in popular productions like; William Tell” (1987-1988), Macbeth” (1981) and The All-American Cowboy” (1985). Before he retired from acting in 1999, the famed actor appeared in some 1990’s movies and television series like; The Thirteenth Floor (1999), Rupert Peterson Wants to be a Super Hero (1997) and The Gambler’s Return: The Luck of the Draw (1991) which was a repetition of his role in Rifleman. In addition to his acting career, the veritable entertainer is a musician of great repute, he has been the leader of a California-based vintage dance orchestra since 1992.