Release CalendarTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV News
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsABFFPride MonthOutfest OutfrontsSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Biography
  • Awards
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

John Crawford(1920-2010)

  • Actor
  • Writer
  • Director
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
John Crawford
Tina helps Bobby, an ex-convict who goes after the country music star who stole his song and made it a hit.
Play trailer1:23
Outlaw Blues (1977)
6 Videos
48 Photos
Burly, handsome and rugged character actor John Crawford appeared in over 200 movies and TV shows combined in a career that spanned over 40 years, usually cast as tough and/or villainous characters.

Crawford was born Cleve Richardson on September 13, 1920, in Colfax, Washington. He was discovered by a Warner Bros. scout while attending the University of Washington's School of Drama. Although he failed his screen test, Crawford nonetheless joined RKO as a laborer. He then got a job building sets at Circle Theater in Los Angeles, and eventually persuaded the producers to cast him in some of their plays. He was soon signed to Columbia Pictures to act in secondary roles in westerns. In the late 1950s he graduated to bigger parts in such films as Orders to Kill (1958), The Key (1958) and Hell Is a City (1960), all of which were made in the UK. Crawford returned to America in the early 1960s and began a prolific career in both movies and TV series, up until 1986. His most memorable film roles include the ill-fated chief engineer in The Poseidon Adventure (1972), the hearty Tom Iverson in Night Moves (1975), the bumbling mayor of San Francisco in The Enforcer (1976), hard-nosed police chief Buzz Cavanaugh in Outlaw Blues (1977) and amiable old mine hand Brian Deerling in The Boogens (1981). John had recurring parts as Sheriff Ep Bridges in The Waltons (1972) and Capt. Parks on Police Woman (1974). Among the many TV shows he made guest appearances in are The Lone Ranger (1949), Adventures of Superman (1952), I Spy (1965), The Twilight Zone (1959), The Untouchables (1959), Wagon Train (1957), The Fugitive (1963), Star Trek: The Original Series (1966), Lost in Space (1965), Bonanza (1959), Hogan's Heroes (1965), Mission: Impossible (1966), Gunsmoke (1955), The Bionic Woman (1976), Dallas (1978) and Dynasty (1981). Crawford died at age 90 following complications from a stroke on September 21, 2010, in Thousand Oaks, California. He's survived by his ex-wife Ann Wakefield, four daughters and two grandchildren.
BornSeptember 13, 1920
DiedSeptember 21, 2010(90)
BornSeptember 13, 1920
DiedSeptember 21, 2010(90)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank

Photos48

John Crawford, Richard Egan, and Joseph Mell in Hollywood Story (1951)
Paul Carr, John Crawford, Ray Dannis, Marvin Kaplan, Vince Martorano, and David G. Cannon in The Severed Arm (1973)
John Crawford and David G. Cannon in The Severed Arm (1973)
Sarah Branch, John Crawford, Geoffrey Frederick, and Joseph Tomelty in Hell Is a City (1960)
John Crawford, Richard Rust, and Dennis Weaver in Gunsmoke (1955)
Robert Brown, John Crawford, and Charles Fawcett in The 300 Spartans (1962)
Robert Brown, John Crawford, Richard Egan, Charles Fawcett, and Nikos Papakonstantinou in The 300 Spartans (1962)
Diane Baker, Robert Brown, Barry Coe, John Crawford, Richard Egan, Charles Fawcett, Giorgos Moutsios, and Nikos Papakonstantinou in The 300 Spartans (1962)
Robert Brown, John Crawford, Richard Egan, Charles Fawcett, and Giorgos Moutsios in The 300 Spartans (1962)
John Crawford and Richard Egan in The 300 Spartans (1962)
Robert Brown, John Crawford, Richard Egan, and Charles Fawcett in The 300 Spartans (1962)
Robert Brown, John Crawford, and Richard Egan in The 300 Spartans (1962)

Known for

Ernest Borgnine, Gene Hackman, Leslie Nielsen, Red Buttons, Roddy McDowall, Stella Stevens, Shelley Winters, Jack Albertson, Carol Lynley, Pamela Sue Martin, Arthur O'Connell, and Eric Shea in The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
The Poseidon Adventure
7.1
  • Chief Engineer
  • 1972
Clint Eastwood in The Enforcer (1976)
The Enforcer
6.7
  • The Mayor
  • 1976
Fred Astaire, William Holden, Paul Newman, Richard Chamberlain, Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway, O.J. Simpson, Robert Vaughn, Robert Wagner, Susan Blakely, and Jennifer Jones in The Towering Inferno (1974)
The Towering Inferno
7.0
  • Callahan
  • 1974
The 300 Spartans (1962)
The 300 Spartans
6.5
  • Agathon the Spartan Spy
  • 1962

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Actor

  • The Roy Rogers Show
    • Pete
    • Released
    • TV Series
    • 1951–1957
  • Grave Secrets (1989)
    Grave Secrets
    • Homer
    • 1989
  • Brian Keith and Daniel Hugh Kelly in Hardcastle and McCormick (1983)
    Hardcastle and McCormick
    • Charlie
    • TV Series
    • 1986
  • David Hasselhoff in Knight Rider (1982)
    Knight Rider
    • Mac Thomas
    • Sheriff Moore
    • TV Series
    • 1983–1985
  • Lee Horsley in Matt Houston (1982)
    Matt Houston
    • Sheriff Ferris
    • TV Series
    • 1985
  • Jon-Erik Hexum and Jennifer O'Neill in Cover Up (1984)
    Cover Up
    • TV Series
    • 1984
  • Tony Lo Bianco and Lindsay Wagner in Jessie (1984)
    Jessie
    • TV Series
    • 1984
  • Falcon Crest (1981)
    Falcon Crest
    • Buck (deleted scene) (uncredited)
    • TV Series
    • 1984
  • The Mississippi (1982)
    The Mississippi
    • Sheriff Fred Kyle
    • TV Series
    • 1984
  • Gun Shy (1983)
    Gun Shy
    • Big Jim
    • TV Series
    • 1983
  • Dynasty (1981)
    Dynasty
    • Dan Cassidy
    • TV Series
    • 1982–1983
  • The Powers of Matthew Star (1982)
    The Powers of Matthew Star
    • General F.J. Tucker
    • TV Series
    • 1982
  • Catherine Bach, Ben Jones, Denver Pyle, John Schneider, and Tom Wopat in The Dukes of Hazzard (1979)
    The Dukes of Hazzard
    • Randall
    • Buchanon
    • TV Series
    • 1980–1982
  • James Arness and Marshall Colt in McClain's Law (1981)
    McClain's Law
    • Tulio Salvi
    • Salvi
    • TV Series
    • 1981–1982
  • Lorne Greene, Andrew Stevens, Julie Adams, and Sam J. Jones in Code Red (1981)
    Code Red
    • TV Series
    • 1982
  • The Other Victim (1981)
    The Other Victim
    • TV Movie
    • 1981

Writer

  • Jason Robards and Stella Stevens in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)
    The Ballad of Cable Hogue
    • written by
    • 1970
  • Nicoletta Machiavelli and David McCallum in The Ravine (1969)
    The Ravine
    • story
    • 1969

Director

  • Yak's Best Ride (1985)
    Yak's Best Ride
    • Director
    • Short
    • 1985

Videos6

Trailer
Trailer 1:50
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:24
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 1:23
Trailer
Battle of Rogue River
Trailer 1:52
Battle of Rogue River
Zombies of the Stratosphere
Trailer 1:56
Zombies of the Stratosphere
The 300 Spartans
Trailer 2:37
The 300 Spartans

Personal details

Edit
  • Alternative name
    • Jack Crawford
  • Height
    • 6′ 0½″ (1.84 m)
  • Born
    • September 13, 1920
    • Colfax, Washington, USA
  • Died
    • September 21, 2010
    • Thousand Oaks, California, USA(complications from a stroke)
  • Spouses
      Beverly LongNovember 25, 1976 - ? (divorced)
  • Other works
    Unsold pilot: Co-starred with James Darren in a pilot for CBS called "Man from the 25th Century" about a boy, kidnapped by aliens, who returns to Earth as a man to help them repel attacks by flying saucers from another planet.
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Interview
    • 1 Article

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    According to actress Beverly Garland, she and Crawford were acting together in 1953 in a play, Dark of the Moon, at the Hollywood Players Ring Theater, the place where she had met her then-husband, Richard Garland a few years earlier. Her best friend, Lorinne Crawford, was married to Crawford at the time. The Garlands would go to the Crawford's house, and Beverly and John Crawford would then go together to the theater and return after to rejoin their spouses at the Crawford home. One night they came home from the play and Beverly caught her husband in a near embrace with her best friend in the Crawford kitchen. He denied but shortly afterwards admitted to an affair. Both John Crawford and Beverly divorced their spouses immediately, with Beverly retaining her ex-husband's name because her career was rising at the time and she did not wish to endanger it with a name change.

Related news

Contribute to this page

Suggest an edit or add missing content
  • Learn more about contributing
Edit page

More to explore

Production art
Photos
IMDb's Top Picks for May
See the list
Production art
Photos
The Best Pics of the Week
See the gallery

Add demo reel with IMDbPro

Demo reel thumbnail
Make your IMDb page stand out by adding a demo reel
Upload your demo reel

Add demo reel with IMDbPro

Make your IMDb page stand out by adding a demo reel
Upload your demo reel
Demo reel thumbnail

How much have you seen?

Keep track of how much of John Crawford’s work you have seen. Go to your list.
Production art
Photos
IMDb's 2023 Summer Movie Guide
See the list

Recently viewed

Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
Get the IMDb App
Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
  • Get the IMDb App
  • Help
  • Site Index
  • IMDbPro
  • Box Office Mojo
  • IMDb Developer
  • Press Room
  • Advertising
  • Jobs
  • Conditions of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your Ads Privacy Choices
IMDb, an Amazon company

© 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.