Where Are They Now

Updated: 12/30/2004

Name: Johnny Crawford

Born: March 26, 1946 in, Los Angeles, California

Claim To Fame: He is most famous for portraying Chuck Connors' son, Mark McCain, on TV series "The Rifleman". He also sang and had a few hits.

Family Life: Charlotte (1995 - present) - his high school sweetheart whom he was reunited with in 1990.

Info: As a child, he began a TV career as one of Walt Disney's original Mouseketeers. It wasn't long before he landed the role of Mark McCain in ABC-TV's popular Western series, The Rifleman, starring Chuck Connors.

Johnny's recordings of the songs, Cindy's Birthday, Rumors and Patti Ann, just to name a few, are very well remembered to this day by teenaged girls who "grew up" with him.

Trivia: Was a Mousketeer.

Brother of Robert Crawford Jr.

Had a hit record in 1962 that peaked at #8 on Billboard's Top 40 Hit Chart called "Cindy's Birthday".

He learned how to ride and rope on The Rifleman set so he rode the professional rodeo circuit for two years. He was then drafted into the Army, where he spent two years making training films.

There have been rumors that Johnny was the first full frontal nude male in a major motion picture, but for what role or any other information I have not been able to find out anything on.

About The Mouseketeers: Johnny was only a Mousketeer for one year.

In an interview he had this to say about leaving the club:
"It was a very sad day in my life. They dropped my option after the first season, and I'm not sure exactly what the reason was, but I can make guesses. One was that it took me too long to learn the dance steps, and I think that was because I wasn't concentrating on learning the routines as much as I was on watching Annette. But also, they felt that Cubby and Karen were a perfect team and that those were there two small Mouseketeers that they were gonna con-centrate on. When they dropped my option, that really broke my heart and I didn't have any other prospects. I was a has-been at nine. I told my agent that I would have worked at Disney's for nothing. That's when she told me that I was working for them for nothing. She started sending me on interviews for other parts. My being able to go in and say that I had just finished working for a year as a Mouseketeer was to my benefit, because they weren't many nine-year-olds who had experience in film. It gave me a certain confidence that I hadn't had before and I started getting a few small parts."

Where Is He Now: After spending two years on the New York cocktail circuit singing in another man's band, Johnny formed his own 16-piece, Los Angeles based 1920's orchestra in 1990. The Johhny Crawford Dance Orchestra is now a fixture on the local swing-dancing scene re-energized by the film, Swingers. He's forsaken acting to forge a career and a business around that era in American history. "It was such a wonderful time," says Johnny. "There was a quality in almost everything in those days - the clothes, the architecture, the furniture, the cars and especially the music."

With his band he appeared monthly at the Hollywood Athletic Club

Most recently (Novemver 2004) He appeared in Las Vegas at The Fremont.

You can hear Johnny on the soundtrack of "Welcome to Collinwood," starring George Clooney. He sings "Maybe It's You" over the end credits.