HAPPY TRAILS

endeared himself to generations of TV viewers by playing Mark McCain, son of widower, homesteader, and peacekeeper Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors) in during the series’ 1958-63 primetime run — and, of course, throughout decades of syndicated reruns. Both Crawford (an original member of ) and Connors generated a,” Crawford told in 2018, “we just hit it off. He was very easy to work with. And we had such wonderful scripts. In fact, we had several scripts by Sam Peckinpah in the first season. And the father-son relationship was a great handle for a lot of the writers as they told their stories.” Crawford later appeared in movies and other TV series — he was shot by John Wayne’s character in — and in more recent years parlayed his ’60s success as a Top 40 recording artist (“Cindy’s Birthday,” “Your Nose is Gonna Grow”) into a second career singing, recording, and performing with his vintage music ensemble, The Johnny Crawford Dance Orchestra. Crawford passed away April 29 in Los Angeles at age 75.