The Return of the Classic Films Obituary Thread

[CBHagman]

13. Actor-singer Johnny Crawford, 75

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/johnny-crawford-young-star-of-the-rifleman-dies-at-75-4176421/

Crawford was 12 when he appeared for the first time as Mark McCain, son of the widower Lucas McCain, on The Rifleman. The Four Star Television series, set in the New Mexico Territory with storylines crafted by Sam Peckinpah, ran for five seasons, from Sept. 30, 1958, to April 8, 1963, and then for decades in syndication and reruns.

[SNIP]

He had appeared in an uncredited role in The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956), starring Gregory Peck, then worked on such TV programs as The Lone Ranger, Climax!, Matinee Theatre and The Loretta Young Show before starring in Courage of Black Beauty (1957).

After The Rifleman was canceled, Crawford and Connors worked together again on a 1965 episode of NBC’s Branded, and he appeared opposite John Wayne in El Dorado (1967) and on TV shows including Hawaii Five-O, Little House on the Prairie and Murder, She Wrote.