R.I.P. Johnny Crawford. You're now up there with Chuck Connors, Paul Fix and "The Rifleman"'s composer Herschel Burke Gilbert. You and Connors had great chemistry.
Johnny Crawford made his film debut as a child actor in 1956’s THE MAN IN THE GRAY FLANNEL SUIT. Crawford played an “Italian Boy with Groceries” in this adaptation of Sloan Wilson’s novel. The film told the story of a Madison Avenue executive (Gregory Peck) trying to adjust to life after World War II, who finds that he faces ethical questions.
Nunnally Johnson directed the film. Varese Sarabande released 24 minutes of Bernard Herrmann’s score in 1999. They expanded the release to 42 minutes for inclusion in the 2011 “Bernard Herrmann at 20th Century Fox” box. The picture ended up in the top 20 films of the year, with a $12.4 million gross.
After more than a dozen television guest spots, Johnny Crawford had the lead role in 1957’s COURAGE OF BLACK BEATUTY. Billed as “John Crawford,” in this film Johnny starred as 10-year-old “Bobby Adams,” who, after some hesitation, accepts the gift of a magnificent black foal from his severe, thoughtless and overprotective father (John Bryant). Harold D. Schuster direct the production, which had an unreleased score by Edward L. Alperson Jr.
In THE SPACE CHILDREN, technician “Dave Brewster” (Adam Williams) takes his wife “Anne” (Peggy Webber) and their two small boys “Bud” (top-billed Michel Ray) and “Ken” (Johnny Crawford) to the beachside “Eagle Point Missile Project” military base to start a new job assignment. With the family making themselves cozy in their new trailer, the boys quickly become friendly with six other children living on the base, all the offspring of scientists and technicians who work there. All the children gather nightly at a secret meeting place in a cave, but on this particular night, they witness a mysterious beam of light from the sky transporting an object to the ground, close to where they are. Locating the object, they discover it to be a white, brain-like pulsating glob which communicates to the obedient children telepathically and appoints Bud, the elder Brewster boy, the leader. The alien’s objective is to prevent the missile known as “The Thunderer” from launching into orbit.
Jack Arnold directed the picture, his final science fiction film. Nathan van Cleave’s score for the 1958 production was released by Film Score Monthly in 2011.
“The Rifleman” was not Johnny Crawford’s first acting in a western. He had done guest shots on numerous western series, such as “The Lone Ranger,” “Have Gun—Will Travel,” “Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok,” “Wagon Train,” and “Trackdown.” But it was a March 1958 episode of “Zane Grey Theatre” that would prove to be the most important. That episode, entitled “The Sharpshooter,” cast him as “Mark McCain,” the son of Chuck Conners’ “Lucas McCain,” and served as the pilot for “The Rifleman.”
Written by Sam Peckinpah and directed by Arnold Laven, the episode saw Lucas and Mark McCain enter the town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory, hoping to buy a small ranch, but encountering trouble from a shady businessman (Leif Erickson) and a young punk gunfighter (Dennis Hopper).
The “Zane Grey” episode was originally written for “Gunsmoke” but turned down for that show. Chuck Connors' character was named John McCain, not Lucas McCain, and he didn't have a son. It was producer-director Arnold Laven's idea to make McCain a widower with a son, one of the first single parents to be shown on television. Also, McCain was originally supposed to have been a dead shot with a pistol. Laven had the idea to use a customized Winchester rifle as McCain's weapon of choice.
Chuck Connors initially turned down the role of Lucas McCain because he thought the salary was too low. The show's producers then considered James Whitmore and John Anderson for the role, but when they saw Connors' chemistry with child actor Tommy Kirk in OLD YELLER (1957), they realized he was the best choice for the role and made him another offer, this time at a much higher salary. He accepted.
Johnny Crawford and Chuck Connors in “The Rifleman”
Season 1 opening for “The Rifleman”
ABC premiered “The Rifleman” on Tuesday, 30 September 1958 at 9:30 PM. The show came at the tail end of a two-hour block of Western programming on ABC that evening, which started with the hour-long “Cheyenne” (#18 in the ratings that season), proceeding to “The Life and Times of Wyatt Earp” (#10 in the ratings), and concluding with “The Rifleman.” The show had little competition in the action-adventure genre, going against CBS’s “The Arthur Godfrey Show” and NBC’s “Colgate Theatre.” “The Rifleman” was an immediate smash hit, ending the season as the fourth-highest-rated program on television.
Looking back on those early days, Crawford remarked, “What boy wouldn't love dressing up as a cowboy and getting paid for it! It was hard work, and I took it very seriously as an actor, but I was living in a dream.”
Crawford and Connors celebrating the show’s first anniversary
The show changed its opening for season 2 (1959-60) to what would be its most familiar one, with Connors walking and firing his Winchester.
Seasons 2 – 4 opening for “The Rifleman”
The iconic theme music for “The Rifleman” was by Herschel Burke Gilbert. The theme was included on a 1962 Dot LP—“Dick Powell Presents”—of themes from the television shows of Four Star Productions, of which Powell was a major owner. That LP, which has never been re-issued on CD, was all we had for 55 years, until Gilbert’s Laurel Records released a 2-CD set of the show’s music in 2017.
Clint Walker had left “Cheyenne,” and ABC’s new “Cheyenne Show” was populated with new faces—“Sugarfoot” and “Bronco” Lane. That dropped the show out of the top 30 and affected the rest of the lineup, with “Wyatt Earp” falling to the #20 slot and “The Rifleman” sliding down to #13 for the season.
Johnny Crawford in “The Rifleman”
For its third season, (1960-61), ABC moved the show up 90 minutes to 8 PM, where it followed its first non-western lead-in—“The Bugs Bunny Show.” “The Rifleman,” while still popular, dropped further to #27 in the ratings.
Johnny Crawford, Gigi Perreau, and Philip Carey in “The Rifleman”
Season 4 (1961-62) saw ABC move “The Rifleman” to Monday nights at 8:30 PM, again following “The Cheyenne Show.” “The Rifleman” maintained its #27 position in the ratings for the season.
Each season of “The Rifleman” had seen fewer new episodes produced than the previous one. Starting out with 40 episodes in its first season, the number had dropped to 36 in season 2, then 34, and 32. The fifth season (1962-63) gave the show another new opening—shot at night, with the announcer dropped.
Season 5 opening for “The Rifleman”
“The Rifleman” produced only 26 episodes, dropped out of the top 30 shows for the first time, and was cancelled at the end of the season, after 168 episodes.
The show has been re-run continuously on television for nearly 60 years. The character "Lucas McCain" was ranked number thirty-two in TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time" (June 20, 2004 issue).
Johnny Crawford credits his "Rifleman" co-star Chuck Connors with being a surrogate parent, acting mentor, and close confidante. “He was my hero,” said Crawford. "I enjoyed being with him. He wasn't as stern as he was on camera. He was like a kid around me.”
“It was a great childhood, and he was bigger-than-life, a wonderful guy, very intelligent, and a big influence on me, and a great supporter, too. He was always interested in what I was doing and ready to give me advice or help me, and he would call me out of the blue.”
Johnny Crawford and Chuck Connors in “The Rifleman”
When Connors passed away, Crawford served as one of his TV-father's pallbearers. “I really miss him. He left us in '92, and it's still a shock to me to think that he's not around, because he had so much energy, and loved life and loved people, and he was "The Rifleman." He was that and a lot more.”
After “The Rifleman” ended, Chuck Connors began a new western series in 1965 called “Branded”. In that show, he played “Jason McCord,” an ex-soldier who was drummed out of the U.S. Cavalry on false charges of cowardice under fire.
Johnny Crawford guest-starred on an early first-season episode called “Coward Step Aside.” In the episode, a whole town runs to a silver mine to get rich and leaves the town practically abandoned. A gang of robbers find it a convenient time to rob the bank, and the leader orders wet-behind-the-ears “Deputy Marshal Clay Holden” (Crawford) to allow it to happen. Deputy Holden agrees to go along with them in order to keep the gang from burning down the town. When he goes to confiscate Jason McCord's gun, however, Jason forces him to tell him everything.
Harry Harris directed the episode, which was scored by Dominic Frontiere.
In INDIAN PAINT, Johnny Crawford played “Nishko,” a chief's son in the Great Plains, before Europeans arrive. During his rite of passage, he's determined to tame a painted pony. He approaches manhood while his peaceful clan is set upon by a nearby tribe willing to break a treaty. He must also contend with the kidnapping of three young women from his village, his pony's illness behind enemy lines, his mother's coma after a rattlesnake bite, the medicine man's urging that he sacrifice what he loves best, an attack of a cougar and of wolves, and his own injury while alone in the woods. His kindness, bravery, and quick thinking serve him well, but rescue come from an unexpected source.
Norman Foster wrote and directed the 1965 western, which was based on a novel by Glenn Balch. Foster also wrote the words and music to the "Song of Nishko," sung by Johnny Crawford. Marlin Skiles provided the unreleased score.
In the 1965 sci-fi film VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS, little “Genius” (Ron Howard) has just developed a serum to make animals grow to giant size, a serum he dubbed goo. His sister “Nancy” (Charla Doherty) has a boyfriend “Mike” (Tommy Kirk) who figures they could make millions with the formula and swears Genius and Nancy to secrecy, but then the ducks they've tried the serum on escape. At the same time, the car of a bunch of teenage troublemakers – “Fred” (Beau Bridges), “Merrie” (Joy Harmon), “Rick” (Robert Random), “Jean” (Tisha Sterling), “Elsa” (Gail Gilmore), “Pete” (Tim Rooney), “Harry” (Kevin O'Neal) and “Georgette (Vicki London) - breaks down nearby. So, they walk into town and break into the local theater that's closed for the season where they take up residence.
They then head over to Hainesville's famed Whiskey A-Go-Go, where they find The Beau Brummels playing live. Catching a glimpse of “Red” (Toni Basil) go-going up a storm, and being happily waved at by her boyfriend, “Horsey” (Johnny Crawford), the group joins in on the dancing -- until the giant ducks show up and take over the dance floor.
Ron Howard, Johnny Crawford and Tommy Kirk in VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS
The Motion Picture Association of America Production Code Administration ordered the editing of dance sequences featuring scantily-clad actresses Joy Harman and Tisha Sterling, and another in which Johnny Crawford removes a piece of Harman’s clothing. Nearly two months later, the excised footage was stolen from an editing room at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles. The sequences were stored in a box labeled “censored cuts.”
Bert I. Gordon directed and co-wrote the 1965 film, which was based on a portion of H.G. Wells' Food of the Gods. The picture marked the film scoring debut of Jack Nitzsche. The film played mainly at drive-ins as part of double features and grossed a below-average $1.8 million at the box office.
In 1967's EL DORADO, "Cole Thornton" (John Wayne), a gunfighter for hire, joins forces with an old friend, "Sheriff J.P. Harrah" (Robert Mitchum). Together with an old Indian fighter, "Bull Harris" (Arthur Hunnicutt), and gambler "Mississippi" (James Caan), they help rancher "Kevin MacDonald" (R. G. Armstrong) and his family fight a rival rancher, "Bart Jason" (Edward Asner), who is trying to steal their water. Johnny Crawford played one of MacDonald’s sons, "Luke MacDonald."
Johnny Crawford in EL DORADO
Johnny Crawford’s old castmate from “The Rifleman,” Paul Fix, who played “Sheriff Micah Torrance” on that show, appears in EL DORADO as “Doc Miller.”
Howard Hawks directed the film, which was a loose remake of his own 1959 RIO BRAVO. Nelson Riddle re-recorded his score for EL DORADO for an Epic Records LP, which has not had a legitimate re-issue on CD. The film’s original mono tracks were released by La-La Land in 2019 in the box set “The Paramount Western Collection.” The picture ended up in the top 20 films of the year at the box office, with a $15 million U.S. gross.
In an episode of “Hawaii Five-0”, Johnny Crawford guest-starred as “Private Jerry Franklin,” a U.S. serviceman, in Hawaii for R&R, who becomes a pawn in a fight for control of a numbers syndicate. The head of the outfit, “Philip Lo” (Will Kuluva), is killed, and Franklin is framed for it. McGarrett & Co. race to solve the killing, shut down the numbers syndicate, and prevent Franklin from becoming the next homicide victim.
Seymour Robbie directed the episode, which aired on CBS on 12 December 1968. Morton Stevens provided the score.
THE NAKED APE was based on Desmond Morris’ best-selling 1967 book The Naked Ape: A Zoologist’s Study of the Human Animal, a world-wide success that was translated into twenty-three languages. In 1968, independent producer Harold Hecht acquired the rights to Morris’ book, and Hecht, producer Zev Bufman, and writer-director Donald Driver planned to turn it into a film. Hecht and Bufman, who were both active in Broadway theater production, had paid $85,000 for the rights and intended to make a humorous film with animated sequences. Author Morris was to act as a consultant. In 1969, Bufman and Driver finalized a production deal with Universal, believed to be the most lucrative ever between a major studio and first-time film producers.
However, by 1972, after two drafts of a screenplay, Universal shelved the project as “impossible of screen translation.” Inquiries at Columbia concurred that the property could not be made into a movie. Ultimately, Hugh Hefner agreed to co-produce the project without having read the script. Hefner’s Playboy Productions split the $1.7 million budget with Universal. Morris was uninterested in collaborating on the film, making only a few technical and spelling corrections when he was sent a copy of the script.
Murakami Wolf Productions, Inc. began work on animated sequences months before the film went before the cameras and continued after principal photography was finished. 4,500 feet of animated footage containing 21,000 drawings were produced by a team of twenty artists. These animated sequences included: A montage of Indian drawings of sexual positions; the origins of clothing; man’s attempt to adjust to the rapid advance of civilization; and a montage of still photographs depicting Christian missionaries “civilizing” an Aborigine couple.
Editor Michael Economous worked on the set as a consultant during filming, and director Driver was convinced that the unusual arrangement saved time and contributed to the cohesiveness of the film. The film focuses on the foibles of human sexuality. The picture is framed with opening and closing sequences about the Vietnam war, giving the film an outdated feel today. Much of the sexual escapades are fantasy sequences in the mind of the young man “Lee” (Johnny Crawford). His partner in these is Victoria Principal. Throughout their lengthy courtship rite, they talk endlessly, a couple of walking text-books. It doesn't even stop in bed. And a walk down the matrimonial aisle finds them in earnest discussion about ape vs. human organisms.
Johnny Crawford and Victoria Principal in THE NAKED APE
Producer Bufman hoped to persuade Leonard Bernstein to conduct the New York Philharmonic from the bottom of the Grand Canyon for the film; however, no such sequence was included. Short fragments of well-known musical pieces are used throughout the film, which has an original score by Jimmy Webb.
In THE GREAT TEXAS DYNAMITE CHASE, Claudia Jennings is “Candy,” an escaped woman convict who robs a bank to save her family's farm, using two sticks of dynamite. Enter Jocelyn Jones as “Ellie-Jo,” a bank teller whose life is so bland her manager fires her for "lack of character!" With nothing to lose, Ellie-Jo aids Candy with the robbery, and the two head off on their separate ways. But the two sultry vixens soon collide with each other on the road and begin a series of wild bank robberies using dynamite and shotguns, and resulting in plenty of police chases. Reluctant hostage “Slim” (Johnny Crawford) soon tags along and wins Ellie-Jo's heart on the side. Tara Strohmeier has a cameo as Candy's sister “Pam;” Chris Pennock is dynamite supplier “Jake,” Priscilla Pointer is a teller, and Stefan Gierasch is a hotel clerk.
Jocelyn Jones and Johnny Crawford in THE GREAT TEXAS DYNAMITE CHASE
Michael Pressman directed this 1976 action-comedy. Craig Safan’s score was released by BSX in 2012.
With the success of singer Kenny Rogers’ film THE GAMBLER, a sequel was a given, and it arrived in the form of THE GAMBLER: THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES, again starring Kenny Rogers and Bruce Boxleitner. In the film, “Brady Hawkes” (Rogers), “Billy Montana” (Boxleitner), and “Jeremiah Hawkes” (Charles Fields) are on a train bound for a huge gambling event when the train is taken over by a gang of vicious killers in search of money. As ransom, the gang takes young Jeremiah hostage. Brady and Billy embark on a quest to rescue him and form a small gang of their own along the way.
Linda Evans, a western veteran from her four seasons on the series “The Big Valley,” was added to the primary cast for this sequel as a female bounty hunter. Johnny Crawford played “Masket” in the film.
Johnny Crawford in THE GAMBLER: THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES
Dick Lowry directed the made-for-television film, which aired on CBS on 28 November 1983. Larry Cansler provided the unreleased score.
In an episode of “Murder, She Wrote” entitled “The Lady In the Lake,” “Jessica Fletcher” (Angela Lansbury) decides to research a forthcoming manuscript, "Murder at the Inn," at the Stone Lake Inn because 19th century author Edgar Allen Poe had stayed there. But then the body of a missing professional swimmer surfaces at the northern end of the lake, after Jessica has witnessed a struggle within a rowboat via her borrowed binoculars. Handling the investigation are “Sheriff Amos Tupper” (Tom Bosley) and “Deputy Noah Paisley” (Johnny Crawford).
Walter Grauman directed the episode, which aired on CBS on 10 November 1985. David Bell provided the score.
Johnny Crawford, Angela Lansbury, and Tom Bosley in “Murder She Wrote”
“Brady Hawkes” was back in THE GAMBLER RETURNS: THE LUCK OF THE DRAW, and he's about to lose his primary means of livelihood, when a law banning gambling is about to be passed. But before that, there's going to be one last great poker game and all one needs to join is $100,000. A madame named “Burgundy Jones” (Reba McEntire), along with four other madams, is willing to put up the money for Brady, but first he has to compete against four other gamblers. In the end it comes down to Brady and a man named “Luke Cantrell” (Christopher Rich). Brady barely beats him.
Brady, Burgundy, and an old friend of his, “Ethan Cassidy” (Rick Rossovich) set out for the big game, which is in San Francisco. But Cantrell's a sore loser and is following them. Also following them is a band of outlaws who are planning to steal the money. Along the way, the trio encounter and/or are aided by some famous individuals, in what must be the greatest cast of television western heroes ever assembled. They include:
Gene Barry as Bat Masterson
Hugh O’Brian as Wyatt Earp
Brian Keith as “The Westerner”
Chuck Connors as Lucas McCain, The Rifleman
Johnny Crawford as Mark McCain
Jack Kelly as Bart Maverick
Clint Walker as Cheyenne Bodie
David Carradine as Caine
Doug McClure and James Drury from “The Virginian”
Although Bruce Boxleitner left the series, Linda Evans returned as “Kate Muldoon,” from the first GAMBLER sequel. Dick Lowry directed the film, which for whatever reason shifted from CBS to NBC. It aired on 3 November 1991. Mark Snow provided the score (and each hero was introduced with a snippet of the theme from his series).
Beginning in 1992, Johnny Crawford led a California-based vintage dance orchestra, which performed at special events. The formal name of the band was JCO (Johnny Crawford Orchestra). The JCO logo appeared on Crawford's drums when the band played in Las Vegas, Nevada. The band played in the Playboy Jazz Festival, and was the choice for 15 consecutive annual Art Directors Guild Awards shows at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California.
In 1999, Crawford and his Orchestra made an appearance as themselves in the sci-fi mystery film THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR. The film concerned a computer scientist (Craig Bierko) running a virtual reality simulation of 1937, who becomes the primary suspect when his colleague and mentor is murdered.
Josef Rusnak directed the film. Harald Kloser’s score was released by Milan. A separate song CD was released in Europe, which included two numbers by Johnny Crawford and His Dance Orchestra, with vocals sung by Meghan Ivey. The $16 million production barely made back its costs, with an $18.8 million worldwide gross.
In BILL TILGHMAN AND THE OUTLAWS, a movie company comes to Oklahoma to convince legendary lawman Bill Tilghman (Ken Arnold) to star in a bank robbery silent film featuring real outlaws. Tilghman reluctantly agrees, not realizing everyone's lives will never be the same, after outlaws like Cole Younger (Darby Hilton) and Frank James (Robert Carradine) are released on parole to appear in the film. Johnny Crawford plays silent movie cowboy star William S. Hart.
Johnny Crawford in BILL TILGHMAN AND THE OUTLAWS
Wayne Shipley directed the film, which was first screened in 2019. It’s unclear as to whether the film played theatrically. The producers released a private-label soundtrack CD containing “fresh country tracks produced in Nashville and Maryland.”
