- Born
- Died
- Birth nameCleve Allen Richardson
- Height6′ 0½″ (1.84 m)
- 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 (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 Anne Wakefield, four daughters and two grandchildren.
- IMDb mini biography by: woodyanders (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)
- SpousesBeverly Long(November 25, 1976 - ?) (divorced)Nancy Jeris(November 9, 1968 - June 1974) (divorced)Anne Wakefield(November 17, 1956 - October 1966) (divorced, 1 child)Lorraine Crawford(August 30, 1947 - 1953) (divorced, 2 children)
- 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, Lorraine 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.
- In addition to appearing in Irwin Allen's "The Poseidon Adventure" and "The Towering Inferno", he also appeared in all four Irwin Allen sci-fi television series: "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", "Lost in Space", "The Time Tunnel", and "Land of the Giants".
- American actor who crossed over into big roles in England, including Hammer's Neo Noir 'Hell Is A City' in which he plays the cutthroat yet scene-stealing villain.
- Along with Michael Ansara, Kevin Hagen, Torin Thatcher, Malachi Throne, Bart La Rue and Jerry Catron, he is one of only seven actors to appear in all four of Irwin Allen's science fiction series: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964), Lost in Space (1965), The Time Tunnel (1966) and Land of the Giants (1968).
- Played a character named Callahan in The Towering Inferno, and then played The Mayor in The Enforcer, the third movie featuring Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry Callahan.
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