Johnny Sheffield

Johnny Sheffield (born April 11, 1931) is an American former child actor.

He was born Jon Matthew Sheffield Cassan in Pasadena, California, the second child of actor Reginald Sheffield (February 18, 1901-December 8, 1957) and Louise Van Loon (January 21, 1905-April 14, 1987). His older sister was Mary Alice Sheffield Cassan and his younger brother was William Hart Sheffield Cassan (actor Billy Sheffield).

His father was himself a former juvenile performer when he came to the United States from his native England. His mother, a native of New York, was a Vassar College graduate with a liberal arts education who loved books and lectured widely.

Johnny was said to have been sickly and frail as a small child, but his father saw to it that he have a daily regimen of exercise. Not only did his health improve, he became strong and physically fit. His father also encouraged him in an acting career.

In 1938, Sheffield became a child star when he was cast in the juvenile lead of a West Coast production of the highly successful Broadway play On Borrowed Time, which starred Dudley Digges and featured Victor Moore as Gramps. Sheffield played the role of Pud, a long role for a child. He later went to New York as a replacement and performed the role on Broadway.

The following year, his father read an article in the Hollywood Reporter that asked, "Have you a Tarzan Jr. in your backyard?" He believed he did and set up an interview.

MGM was searching for a suitable youngster to play the adopted son of Tarzan in its next jungle movie with stars Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan. Sheffield was taken to an audition and was extremely fortunate, as Weissmuller personally chose him out of all the other juvenile actors to play the part of "Boy" in Tarzan Finds a Son! (1939).

In that same year, Sheffield appeared in the Busby Berkely movie musical Babes in Arms with Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, classmates of his at the studio school.

He appeared with many other performers over the years, including Jeanette McDonald, Pat O'Brien, Cesar Romero, Ronald Reagan and Beverly Garland.

Sheffield played Boy in three Tarzan movies at MGM, and in another five after the star, Weissmuller, and production of the movie series moved to RKO. The blonde actress Brenda Joyce played Jane in the last three Tarzan movies Sheffield appeared in.

After he outgrew the role of Boy, the teenage Sheffield went on to star in his own jungle movie series. In 1949, he made Bomba, the Jungle Boy with co-star Peggy Ann Garner. In all, he appeared as Bomba twelve times.

Sheffield appeared in his last movie, as Bomba, in 1955. He then made a pilot for a television series, Bantu, the Zebra Boy, which was created, produced and directed by his father, Reginald Sheffield. Although the production values were high compared to other TV jungle shows of the day, a sponsor was not found and the show was never produced as a weekly series.

Sheffield decided to leave the industry and enrolled in college to further his education. He lived and worked for a time in Arizona.

He was married to Patricia in 1959 in Yuma, Arizona. He and Patty have three children: Patrick M. Sheffield, Stewart Sheffield and Regina L. Sheffield.

After leaving show business, Sheffield completed a business degree at UCLA. Turning his attention to other fields, he involved himself variously in farming, real estate and construction. For a time, he was a representative for the Santa Monica Seafood Company importing lobsters from Baja California in Mexico. He has also written articles of his movie reminiscences and sold copies of the TV pilot Bantu, the Zebra Boy on video.

Johnny Sheffield lives in Southern California.

Filmography

• Tarzan Finds a Son! (1939) (MGM) ... Boy
• Babes in Arms (1939) (MGM) ... Bobs
• Lucky Cisco Kid (1940) (20th Century Fox ) ... Tommy Lawrence
• Knute Rockne, All American (1940) (Warner Bros.) ... Knute at 7
• Little Orvie (1940) (RKO) ... Orvie Stone
• Tarzan's Secret Treasure (1941) (MGM) ... Boy
• Million Dollar Baby (1941) (Warner Bros.) ... Alvie Grayson
• Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942) (MGM) ... Boy
• Tarzan Triumphs (1943) (RKO Pathé) ... Boy
• Tarzan's Desert Mystery (1943) (RKO Pathé) ... Boy
• Roughly Speaking (1945) (Warner Bros.) ... Frankie at 9
• Tarzan and the Amazons (1945) (RKO Pathé) ... Boy
• Tarzan and the Leopard Woman (1946) (RKO Pathé) ... Boy
• Tarzan and Huntress (1947) (RKO Pathé) ... Boy
• The Sun Comes Up (1949) (MGM) ... music lover
• Bomba, the Jungle Boy (1949) (Monogram) ... Bomba
• Bomba on Panther Island (1949) (Monogram) ... Bomba
• The Lost Volcano (1950) (Monogram) ... Bomba
• Bomba and the Hidden City (1950) (Monogram) ... Bomba
• The Lion Hunters (1951) (Monogram) ... Bomba
• Bomba and the Elephant Stampede (1951) (Monogram) ... Bomba
• African Treasure (1952) (Monogram) ... Bomba
• Bomba and the Jungle Girl (1952) (Monogram) ... Bomba
• Safari Drums (1953) (Allied Artists) ... Bomba
• Killer Leopard (1954) (Allied Artists) ... Bomba
• The Golden Idol (1954) (Allied Artists) ... Bomba
• Lord of the Jungle (1955) (Allied Artists) ... Bomba