`RIFLEMAN' STAR JOHNNY CRAWFORD TURNS RETRO ORCHESTRA LEADER

`RIFLEMAN' STAR JOHNNY CRAWFORD TURNS RETRO ORCHESTRA LEADER

LOS ANGELES (Wireless Flash) -- Former child actor Johnny Crawford -- who played Chuck Connors' son on "The Rifleman" -- is singing a different tune these days. Crawford -- who turns 54 on March 26 -- is the leader of the Johnny Crawford Dance Orchestra, a swing band with violins that recreates the music of the late '20s and early '30s. Although Crawford had teeny bop hits in the early '60s such as "Cindy's Birthday," he says he's always preferred the music from the early swing era, even when he was a kid. In fact, he goes out of his way to recreate the '20s era by performing a mean Charleston and occasionally singing through a megaphone a la Rudy Vallee.