Johnny Crawford
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Ernest Crawford (born March 26, 1946 in Los Angeles, California) is an American actor, singer and musician.
An original Mousketeer in 1955, Johnny Crawford has been an actor on stage, films and television.
He received an Emmy Award nomination at the age of 13 for his role as "Mark McCain," the son of Chuck Connors on the television series The Rifleman, which originally aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC network. During this time, he had wide popularity with American teenagers and a recording career that generated five Top 40 hits, including the single "Cindy's Birthday" which peaked at #8 on Billboard's Top 40 Hit Chart in 1962.
Johnny Crawford played "Horsey", Tommy Kirk's cowboyish sidekick in the 1965 movie Village of the Giants, with Joy Harmon, Beau Bridges and Ron Howard.
The Naked Ape, a 1973 movie directed by Donald Driver — based on the book — starred Johnny Crawford and Victoria Principal.
Johnny Crawford had a key role in the early career of Victoria Jackson, of Saturday Night Live fame; after appearing together in a summer stock production of Meet Me in St. Louis, he presented her with a one-way airline ticket to California, encouraging her to try her luck in Hollywood. This led to her early TV appearances on The Tonight Show, before being cast as a regular on Saturday Night Live.
Johnny is currently leader of the California-based Johnny Crawford Orchestra which specializes in traditional jazz, early big band and classical styles of music.
[edit] Academy Award winning movie
In 1970 Johnny Crawford starred with Kristin Nelson in The Resurrection of Broncho Billy. It won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.
