Posted on 04/30/2021 2:45:02 AM PDT by lowbridge
Johnny Crawford, the original Mouseketeer who starred as the young son of the Civil War veteran portrayed by Chuck Connors on the 1958-63 ABC series The Rifleman, died Thursday, it was announced. He was 75.
In 2019, it was revealed that Crawford had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and a GoFundMe campaign organized by Paul Petersen — the advocate for former child actors and onetime star of The Donna Reed Show — was set up to help the family deal with expenses.
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 September 30, 1958, to April 8, 1963, and then for decades in syndication and reruns.
(Excerpt) Read more at hollywoodreporter.com ...
Sad. He and Chuck Connors had a really good relationship on screen and off. RIP.
Didn’t recall that he was a Mouseketeer.
I thought I felt old before. Now I’m ancient.
I officially felt old a couple of years ago,when a young bunch of college students were interviewed about music groups...They all knew who the rolling stones were and none of them knew who the Beatles or Beach Boys were......
Yes, he knew one word -PA.
I'll always remember how he called his dad PAW ! May he rest in peace.
A few years ago, a retro TV station was broadcasting a clip of Johnny Crawford’s comments about The Rifleman as an ad for their broadcasting of the show.
Alzheimer’s sucks. For everyone. I am in line for it.
Met Johnny Crawford and Ken Curtis in 1960 both were at the rodeo in Big Spring TX. Johnny milled around and shook hands, Ken Curtis sang a couple of songs.
Tumbling Tumbleweeds Ken Curtis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWR6FLnPack
‘The Rifleman’ was more than just an action western. Every episode also taught a morality lesson. RIP Johnny, Chuck, and Paul (Paul Fix, the marshal).
A truly great show. Our generation was watching this in our formative years. The purple haired, what gender am I, socialism sounds great, twits of today were raised on the most God awful trash the perverts in Hollywierd could dream up. The “rural purge” of wholesome television in the early 70s replaced shows like this with ones that had a “social message” like All in the Family and Maude. The purge of shows that celebrated America was a major blow in the now completed destruction of our culture. Thank goodness for Me TV.
First year of retirement only tv I watch is Gunsmoke (Miss Kitty still looks good) and The Rifleman, both great shows regarding doing the right thing and how you have to fight bad folks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvNB6j4B50E&list=PLqzuLG5hl2XN4fbXkTCc98q0wZpjysCwl&index=7
I remember watching The Rifleman as a 10-year old and thinking how I wanted to be like the young McCain, and also the character of Ernie Douglas, played by the young Barry Livingston on My Three Sons...Billy Mumy in Lost In Space, even the cartoon character of Jonny Quest...However, I did grow up watching the reruns of most of those and the real world was nothing at all like those portrayed in the old shows, especially Gilligan’s Island (So, nothing ever happened between Gilligan, Maryann and Ginger?...Okaaay)...On the other hand and at the same time there were the new shows like Laugh-In, Flip Wilson and the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, 60 Minutes, Pubic Television, Ed Sullivan, etc., that had less ridiculousness going for them, except for Sesame Street. I knew when I saw Sesame Street that things were changing. From Romper Room and Bozo the Clown to Sesame Street and The Electric Company, it was the first time I felt somewhat alienated by the popular culture. Fortunately though, I knew I could always count on one or more of my uncles to have the latest issue of MAD Magazine within reach. MAD is dead. Long live MAD!
DAMN! My wife is going to be so sad. He was her first TV crush.
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