Even after 60 years, the father-son relationship in The Rifleman is considered one of the best ever on TV.
Growing up in the late 1950s, this Western was shown on TV in many houses, spreading values like caring for others and being truthful.
But besides the famous parts, The Rifleman also had its share of minor errors, bloopers and interesting facts that only the most passionate viewers might see.
Find out the secret stories behind this popular Western with us…
Many of those first Westerns like The Rifleman were made with many inaccuracies, but people did not mind. They’re a lot of fun to watch and provide more interesting characters than many shows do today. Every episode had a lesson that reflected on important human values and brought a kind feeling to the story.
On The Rifleman, Chuck Connors played Lucas McCain, a single rancher and experienced sharpshooter bringing up his son, Mark, with the help of Johnny Crawford. Their sincere connection and action-filled stories of the Western years made people always want to watch their series.
The series is known as one of the greatest, but even the greatest series can make a few mistakes… There’s much more going on behind the scenes than most of us viewers know.
Lucas McCain launched new movements in the western genre.
Jeans are what Cowboy McCain usually wore on his show and it turns out that he made that choice half a century before jeans became popular. In episode “End of a Young Gun,” for those paying close attention, they’ll spot that a bare-chested Lucas is fixing a wagon wheel.
If you look, you’ll see a “W” on his jeans and yes, he’s really wearing Wranglers. The catch? Yellowstone is placed in the 1880s, but denim jeans wouldn’t be available until much later, in the 1940s. Lucas McCain represented more than just western fashion and he truly led the way for what would be modern style.
Connors did have a real child.
Let me mention that one thing I especially liked was the father-son relationship. But you may not realize that the series also appears as Chuck Connors’ real son. At the beginning of “Tension,” the episode, Mark and Lucas join the McCains at Sid Halpern’s funeral.
The son, Toby and his mother are watching, both dressed in black. The role of Small Toby was given to Jeff Connors, Chuck Connors’ other son by Faith Quabius and he only had two lines. Jeff died in 2014.
Bringing Chuck to the team was not simple
Getting the right person for the main role in The Rifleman was not an easy process.
He had to overcome the competition of 40 other actors and there was no certainty he would get the job. He got a low salary from ABC which encouraged him to keep freelancing instead.
Still, Connors got the part in a surprising way. It was then that the producers got the idea when Connors appeared in Old Yeller and played a sturdy father figure. Later, after hearing the kids’ feedback, the producers made a new deal and gave them a stake in the show by giving them a five-percent ownership. And before I knew it, all the preparations were done.
The Winchester rifle made in 1892 vertical model
All episodes of The Rifleman would start with Chuck Connors superbly firing near-endless shots with his rifle. Basically, during the sequence, he would grab his rifle out of the holster, turn it upside down, toss it between arms, place a new bullet in it and look dangerously at the camera.
For these famous scenes, the production had two identical rifles from 1892, one used to film and another set aside as a backup.
There may have been some who thought the very first scene, showing the 1892 Winchesters, was manipulated. Actually, Connors did have those speed and agility skills with his carbine. He was a former professional athlete in both basketball and baseball which gave him the coordination and skills to make all his quick movements look easy. We know, however, that the gun had been altered to work better in rapid-fire mode by its lever action.
The Duke link
Lucas McCain’s Winchester rifle was not just there for show; it played a big role and had an interesting history behind it.
Being set in the 1870s and 1880s, The Rifleman story lines could not include the 1892 Winchester.
But this famous firearm made its first appearance on screen in John Wayne’s 1939 movie, Stagecoach. Later, Arnold Levin disclosed that the same rifle used by Lucas McCain in The Rifleman was the same used by the Duke in his beloved film.
Madera Hotel
Throughout the series, the Madera Hotel was a famous place in North Fork that appeared commonly in different episodes.
While the name was California House from the start of the story, the pilot episode was still called The Sharpshooter. There were rumors that the ownership changed between episodes, but no one understands why the business changed its name out of the blue.
The Hollywood industry blacklisted Johnny Crawford.
Johnny Crawford entered the world of acting at 3, when he tried out in front of the camera. Even so, his attempt didn’t turn out well – it actually got him blacklisted, even as a 3-year-old performer.
I don’t have any memory of the photo and I somehow ended up cut from the movie. I was in the movie, pretending to be a refugee child and there was a scene where Rosalind Russell was supposed to give us each a chocolate bar. After this experience, Johnny Crawford said that he believed he was put onto the blacklist because a new version of the scene had to be shot and he kept his chocolate bar during the process.
Challenge of introducing a new woman at the center of the story
Love was not completely absent from the series, even though Lucas McCain was mainly shown as a father. It looked in the third season as though a romance between Lucas and Milly, played by Joan Taylor, was starting to blossom.
Nonetheless, after Milly left the show in season four, the storyline wrapped up in a vague way because she had to go back east.
Because of this, the producers turned to Lou Mallory as the next female lead. Selecting an actress was difficult because she needed to fit the role and have chemistry with Chuck Connors.
Chuck took part in all aspects of casting to make sure the film was a good fit. This task was more difficult than people had first assumed. He talked to many women who were perfect contenders for the role, but they simply didn’t have the right feel.
A few months ago, I got what I thought was the perfect job. At the start, things felt great, but it didn’t take long before they got out of control and made the production a nightmare for everyone,” he shared.
After looking at more than 60 candidates, the experts decided on the breathtaking red-haired Texan, Patricia Blair.
Do you recognize this person who belongs to a baseball hall-of-fame?
The prior section mentioned that Lucas McCain was a very skilled baseball player. But he never reached the same level as Duke Snider, who appeared as a guest on the program. Connors’s Major League Baseball career saw him only hit two home runs.
The well-known baseball star known as “the Duke of Flatbush” appeared as Wallace in the episode named The Retired Gun. Former professional baseball player Don Drysdale once appeared in an episode of the show.
Johnny Crawford’s brother appeared on screen.
Much of the show focused on family and it was also the first one to feature a single parent raising a child.
Another member of the show’s family showed up during the episode as Bobby Crawford, brother of Johnny.
In the episode Second Witness, Martin played Freddy and he and Johnny put in such great acting that Martin was awarded a nomination for his performance by the Emmys in 1959. After that, he continued acting under his real name, Robert Lawrence Crawford Jr., playing Andy Sherman on the show Laramie which aired on NBC from 1959 to 1960. Warren Harding is alive today and he is currently 80 years old.
Johnny Crawford was sometimes overprotected by her.
Chuck Connors cared for Johnny during the show and the two also stayed close when it ended.
Since he was young, Johnny Crawford was inspired by Chuck Connors because of his love for baseball. Thanks to The Rifleman, Crawford learned a lot from John Russell during filming and in real life.
Learning from Chuck included hearing baseball stories, him reciting poems like Casey at the Bat and giving speeches from Shakespeare. That Chuck Connors can quote Shakespeare still surprises people, Crawford said in The Buffalo News.
There is a beautiful photo that clearly shows the strong friendship and respect they had for each other.
Actor Paul Fix, who was Marshal Micah Torrence on The Rifleman, strongly cared for Crawford.
He acted like a father figure to Crawford during filming and he made sure no one could get the weapons unless Crawford himself picked them up. Paul Fix felt an intense personal need to keep watch over Crawford’s security.
Fix himself once almost died when his brother and he were messing around with a weapon and it discharged by accident. A miracle saved Fix; the bullet went right by, only a hair’s breadth away from him.
Twist by Buddy Hackett
A funny bit of casting occurred when comedian Buddy Hackett appeared as the father of an actor who was actually younger than him.
In one episode, Buddy Hackett is Daniel Malakie, a man who learns that his sons, Ben and Jud, have been imprisoned. It is important to note that Benjamin’s character, Ben, was played by Christopher Dark who was actually born in 1920 and Taylor Hackett as Jackson, who was born in 1924. This situation leads to interesting casting, showing how Hollywood is able to play with family roles and traditional ages…
Baby girl was portrayed by a boy in the film
Do you know what Robert Anacher’s name is? No? That’s understandable! Fancy the adorable baby girl was the role he played most prominently in the season 2 episode, The Baby Sitter. Actually, it was a boy who was dressed in a girl’s outfit.
Assassinated by a pistol.
In the initial televised broadcast of Gunsmoke (1955)’s pilot, the character played by Chuck Connors was called John McCain. He was listed by IMDB as without children and known for being an expert shots with guns.
Sammy Davis Jr. captivated the staff behind the scene.
Termed “Mr. Show Business” and “Greater than all others who entertained on this stage” – Sammy Davis Jr., who has passed away, is sadly missed and his achievements and influence have never faded from U.S. history.
Don’t you know that he once acted in The Rifleman? Somewhere Between Dreams and Reality shows Sammy Davis Jr. as the bandit Tip Corey in Two Ounces of Tin. He performed deft moves and flashy twirling tricks when using a gun. What makes it special is that Davis did all these stunts himself, instead of using any doubles!
Hairstyles
Much of the cast had 1950s-1960s-style haircuts in the world of The Rifleman which was set in the 1880s.
This fact becomes even clearer when we look at the clothes; many males appeared in full-front button-down shirts which was not a popular style before the 1930s. Because it mixes history with mid-century style, it gives the classic Western a surprising twist!
The headstone of Chuck Connors
Though he was a great athlete, Chuck Connors frequently smoked three packages of Camel cigarettes every day. Incredibly, he was among the very few athletes who ever played in the NBA and MLB.
In fall 1992, Connors had to be admitted to the hospital because of pneumonia. Another three weeks passed and his cancer took his life. He was buried in San Fernando Mission Cemetery and his headstone contains the logos of his sports teams which were the Boston Celtics, the Chicago Cubs and the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Coming to the end of our visit to The Rifleman, there is no doubt that the show made a significant impression on the world of TV.
Because of its strong father-son bond, interesting characters and exciting mix of action and important life lessons, the show is still loved today. I still regularly watch old episodes. RIP Johnny and Chuckpic.twitter.com/pkBZRNfpqu