Johnny Crawford is one of the original Mouseketeers in The Mickey Mouse Club and one of the few surviving members of the cast of the popular ABC western series The Rifleman. Johnny, who made his acting debut on The Pinky Lee Show in the 1950s, has been retired from the entertainment industry for nearly two decades, having retired from active acting since 1999.
The former actor will always be remembered for his outstanding role in The Rifleman, where he played the character Mark McCain between 1958 and 1963. Johnny accepted further appearances as an actor after the end of the series in the early 1960s, but in 1992 he showed himself to be a talented musician and appeared as the leader of an old dance orchestra from California. The multi-talented entertainer is still alive and well, although he has managed to keep a low profile in recent years.
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Johnny Crawford Biography & Age
John Ernest Crawford was born on March 26, 1946, into a family of singers and actors in LA California. He is the son of Robert Lawrence Crawford Sr. and Betty Crawford.
According to the records the Crawford family had four children – Corydon, Nance, Robert, and Johnny. In 1959 Johnny and his older brother – Robert Jr., best known for his role in NBC’s Laramie – was nominated for an Emmy Award in the acting category, while their father – Robert, Sr. was nominated for an Emmy in the film editing category.
The famous singer, bandleader, and actor are of American nationality with a mixture of Irish, Russian, English, and German descent. Johnny Crawford graduated from Hollywood High School in 1964. The 5-foot 8-inch tall artist has been in the entertainment business since 1954 and made a conscious decision to retire from acting in 1999.
Career
Johnny was still a child in the 1950s when his acting career began with an appearance on the Pinky Lee Show. The rising star had several appearances on television series such as Make Room For Daddy, which was shown between 1956 and 1958, The Lone Ranger, which was one of the most popular shows of 1956, and Telephone Time, which ran from 1956 to 1957.
It is worth mentioning that Johnny Crawford, as mentioned above, was one of the original Mouseketeers of Walt Disney in 1955.
The actor’s big breakthrough came in 1958 when he got his role in The Rifleman, a well-known television series that premiered on ABC Network in 1958 and was completed five years later in 1963. He also had roles in several other productions, including Village of the Giants, The Restless Ones, and Indian Paint, all shown in 1965, El Dorado in 1966, Hawaii Five-O in 1968, and The Big Valley, released in 1969.
The versatile entertainer’s career declined in the 1970s and he only got a few small roles in a few films and television series, but the tide turned after a decade when he appeared in popular productions such as William Tell (1987-1988), Macbeth (1981) and The All-American Cowboy (1985).
Before retiring from acting in 1999, the famous actor appeared in several films and television series in the 1990s, including The Thirteenth Floor (1999), Rupert Peterson Wants to be a Super Hero (1997) and The Gambler’s Return: The Luck of the Draw (1991), in which he took up his role from The Rifleman again. In addition to his acting career, the true entertainer is a musician of great renown; since 1992 he has been the leader of a California-based vintage dance orchestra.
Before he retired, Johnny Crawford managed to create a career of which one can be immensely proud.
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Johnny Crawford: Children, Married, Wife, Is He Gay?
There was never any controversy or rumor about the celebrated entertainer’s sexuality. His past relationships with the opposite sex are sufficiently credible proof that he is heterosexual. In the early 1970s, Johnny Crawford was in a relationship with Debra Tate, a sister of the notoriously late actress Sharon Tate.
Much later in the singer’s life, fate brought him and his old high school girlfriend, Charlotte Samco, together in 1990. Their reunion, which rekindled old flames, culminated in marriage on February 14, 1995. The couple is still married, but they are separated and no longer live together. Johnny now has a relationship with the American actress Kim Darby.
The actor has never had children with his ex-wife or girlfriend.
