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The Rifleman
The Rifleman is an American Western television program starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son, Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show was filmed in black-and-white, half-hour episodes. "The Rifleman" aired on ABC from September 30, 1958 to April 8, 1963 as a production of Four Star Television. It was one of the first prime time series to have a widowed parent raise a child.
  • First aired on 09/30/1958 (TV Show)
  • Action & Adventure / Western / Family
  • 5 Seasons
  • Cast
  • Crew
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Headshot of Chuck Connors
Chuck Connors

Character's name: "Lucas McCain"
Birthday: 04/10/1921
Date of Death: 11/10/1992
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Biography:
​Chuck Connors (April 10, 1921 – November 10, 1992) was an American actor, writer, and professional basketball and baseball player. His best known role from his forty-year film career was Lucas McCain in the 1960s ABC hit Western series The Rifleman. Description above from the Wikipedia article Chuck Connors, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Headshot of Johnny Crawford
Johnny Crawford

Character's name: "Mark McCain"
Birthday: 03/26/1946
Date of Death: 04/29/2021
Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, USA
Biography:
John Ernest Crawford was an American actor, singer, and musician. He first performed before a national audience as a Mouseketeer. At age 12, Crawford rose to prominence playing Mark McCain in the ABC Western series, The Rifleman. Crawford was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor at age 13 for his work on The Rifleman, which aired from 1958 to 1963. Disney started out with 24 original Mouseketeers. However, at the end of the first season, the studio reduced the number to 12, and Crawford was released from his contract. His first important break as an actor followed with the title role in a Lux Video Theatre production of "Little Boy Lost", a live NBC broadcast on March 15, 1956. He also appeared in the popular Western series The Lone Ranger, in 1956, in one of the few color episodes of that series. Following that performance, the young actor worked steadily with many seasoned actors and directors. Freelancing for two and one-half years, he accumulated almost 60 television credits, including featured roles in three episodes of NBC's The Loretta Young Show and an appearance as Manuel in, "I Am an American", an episode of the syndicated crime drama Sheriff of Cochise. He starred as Bobby Adams in the 1958 drama "Courage of Black Beauty". By the spring of 1958, he had also performed 14 demanding roles in live teleplays for NBC's Matinee Theatre, appeared on CBS's sitcom, Mr. Adams and Eve, in the Wagon Train episode "The Sally Potter Story" (in which Martin Milner also appeared) and on the syndicated series, Crossroads, Sheriff of Cochise, and Whirlybirds, and made three pilots of TV series. The third pilot, which was made as an episode of Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, was picked up by ABC and the first season of The Rifleman began filming in July 1958. Crawford had a brief career as a recording artist in the 1950s and 1960s. He continued to act on television and in film as an adult. Beginning in 1992, Crawford led the California-based Johnny Crawford Orchestra, a vintage dance orchestra that performed at special events.

Headshot of Paul Fix
Paul Fix

Character's name: "Micah Torrance"
Birthday: 03/13/1901
Date of Death: 10/14/1983
Birthplace: Dobbs Ferry, New York, USA
Biography:
Paul Fix (March 13, 1901, Dobbs Ferry, New York – October 14, 1983, Los Angeles, California) was an American film and television character actor, best known for his work in westerns. Fix appeared in more than a hundred movies and dozens of television shows over a 56-year career spanning from 1925 to 1981. In the 1950s, Fix was best known for portraying Marshal Micah Torrance alongside Chuck Connors in The Rifleman. Paul Fix died October 14, 1983, Los Angeles, California, of kidney failure. He was survived by his daughter Marilyn Carey and son-in-law Harry "Dobe" Carey, three grandchildren and several great-grandchildren. Supposedly Fix taught John Wayne -- a lifelong friend -- his famous and distinctive "rolling walk" when Wayne was starting out in the business. He wanted something to set him apart, so Fix suggested the rolling gait that became his trademark.


Headshot of Arthur H. Nadel
Arthur H. Nadel
Producer