🇺🇸🇺🇸Johnny Crawford _ "Cindy's Birthday" and "Rumors" John Ernest Crawford (born March 26, 1946) is an American actor, singer and musician, best known as a child actor for his role in the lead cast of the television series The Rifleman. (1958-1963). Born in 1946 in California, Johnny Crawford comes from a family of people active in the world of the show. Johnny was the son of Betty (née Mergelin) and Robert Lawrence Crawford Sr. His maternal grandparents were Belgian; his grandfather was the