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Actor

1920-09-13 · Colfax, Washington, USA · Male

57 series in the catalog

John Crawford (born Cleve Allen Richardson; September 13, 1920 – September 21, 2010) was an American actor. He appeared in a 1961 episode of The Twilight Zone, called "A Hundred Yards Over the Rim", and in several Gunsmoke episodes. He had a key role in the 1975 film Night Moves, a crime thriller starring Gene Hackman. He also played the mayor of San Francisco in 1976's The Enforcer, the third Dirty Harry film featuring Clint Eastwood, as well as the Chief Engineer in Irwin Allen's classic 1972 box-office smash and disaster-film epic The Poseidon Adventure.

Life and career

Crawford was born in Colfax, Washington, and studied at the School of Drama at the University of Washington. In films from the 1940s, Crawford appeared in bit parts for many years before playing leads in several films in the United Kingdom in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including the lead antagonist in Hammer's noir film Hell Is a City opposite Stanley Baker.

In 1960 in the UK, he appeared in Danger Man in the episode entitled "The Girl in the Pink Pajamas" as Dr. Keller.

When he returned to the United States, he played supporting roles in several films but was more prolific on TV in character roles, in scores of series such as State Trooper (in the episode "The Last Stage Robbery"), Gunsmoke (14 episodes between 1959 and 1974), The Twilight Zone, Combat!, The Fugitive, Harry O, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Wheels, The Dukes of Hazzard, The Incredible Hulk, The Time Tunnel, Mannix, Lost in Space, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, Hogan's Heroes, The Rockford Files and most notably as Sheriff Ep Bridges on CBS' The Waltons.

Crawford co-wrote the screenplay of the film The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), directed by Sam Peckinpah. In addition to appearing with James Arness in 14 episodes of Gunsmoke, he was in two episodes of Arness' subsequent western series How the West Was Won (1976–79) and in two episodes of Arness' subsequent police detective series McClain's Law (1981–1982).

His other notable silver screen turns include the investigating State Trooper in I Saw What You Did (1965), the Chief Engineer in The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Callahan in The Towering Inferno (1974), and as Brian Deering in The Boogens (1981).

Death

Crawford died from a stroke eight days past his 90th birthday. According to Variety, he died in Newbury Park, California and was survived by his longtime companion and former wife, Ann Wakefield.

John Crawford at the American Film Institute Catalog

John Crawford at the TCM Movie Database (archived)

John Crawford at Memory Alpha

John Crawford at the University of Wisconsin's Actors Studio audio collection