Johnny Crawford, original Mouseketeer and Rifleman star, dies at 75

The Rifleman was one of my favorite TV westerns. It is notorious for its frequent gunplay, with hero Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors), supposedly a peaceful rancher and single parent, managing to shoot over a hundred bad guys during the show’s run.
There is another side to it, though: The almost uncanny chemistry between Connors and Crawford, who played his young Mark. It has some of the best and most realistic portrayals of parenting in early TV. Crawford has said that this was real, he saw Connors as a father figure and they remained close until Connors’s death in 1992.

“The Rifleman” circa 1958