Johnny Sheffield
Johnny Sheffield (born John Matthew Sheffield Cassan) was an American child, teen, and young-adult actor, his screen career lasting from 1938 to 1955. In 1938, Sheffield became a child star after 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. When he was 5 years old, Sheffield was taken to an audition where Weissmuller chose him over more than 300 juvenile actors interviewed for the part of "Boy" in Tarzan Finds a Son. In that same year, Sheffield appeared in the Busby Berkeley 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 MacDonald, Pat O'Brien, Cesar Romero, Ronald Reagan and Beverly Garland. He played the childhood version of the title character in Knute Rockne, All American, perhaps the most prestigious film in which he had a role. 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. Brenda Joyce played Jane in the last three Tarzan movies in which Sheffield appeared. After he outgrew the role of Boy, the teenaged Sheffield went on to star in his own jungle movie series for Allied Artists. In 1949, he made Bomba, the Jungle Boy with co-star Peggy Ann Garner. In all, he appeared as Bomba 12 times, more than any other character he portrayed. 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.
Tarzan Triumphs
as BoyZandra, white princess of a lost civilization, comes to Tarzan for help when Nazis invade the...
Movie pageTarzan and the Amazons
as BoyA group of archaeologists asks Tarzan to help them find an ancient city in a hidden valley of...
Movie pageTarzan's New York Adventure
as BoyCircus owner Buck Rand kidnaps Boy to perform in his show. He forces a pilot to fly him, Boy and...
Movie pageTarzan's Desert Mystery
as BoyA letter from Jane, who is nursing British troops, asks Tarzan's help in obtaining a malaria...
Movie pageTarzan Finds a Son!
as BoyA young couple die in a plane crash in the jungle. Their son is found by Tarzan and Jane who...
Movie pageTarzan's Secret Treasure
as BoyA scientific expedition happens to discover that gold exists on Tarzan's escarpment. The...
Movie pageTarzan and the Leopard Woman
as BoyA tribe devoted to the leopard cult is dedicated to preventing civilization from moving further...
Movie pageTarzan and the Huntress
as BoyA shortage of zoo animals after World War II brings beautiful animal trainer Tanya, her...
Movie pageAfrican Treasure
as BombaAgainst stock footage of lions, elephants and wildebeasts, Bomba the Jungle Boy captures a pair...
Movie pageBabes in Arms
as Bobs (as John Sheffield)Mickey Moran, son of two vaudeville veterans, decides to put up his own vaudeville show with his...
Movie pageKnute Rockne All American
as Knute - Age 7The story of legendary Notre Dame football player and coach Knute Rockne.
Movie pageBomba on Panther Island
as BombaIn this second film in the Bomba, the Jungle Boy series, Bomba tracks a dangerous panther.
Movie pageLord of the Jungle
as BombaThe jungle boy tries to stop a herd of rogue elephants.
Movie pageKiller Leopard
as BombaMovie actress Linda Winters has gone into the jungle to find her lost husband Fred. Bomba the...
Movie pageMillion Dollar Baby
as Alvie GraysonA sudden windfall has unexpected consequences on a working class girl during the Great Depression.
Movie pageElephant Stampede
as BombaBomba the jungle boy swings into action when an elephant herd is threatened by ivory hunters.
Movie pageBomba and the Jungle Girl
as BombaBomba decides to find out who his parents were. He starts with Cody Casson's diary and follows...
Movie pageThe One, the Only, the Real Tarzan
as SelfThe glorious and tragic story of American athlete and actor Johnny Weissmuller (1904-84),...
Movie pageThe Golden Idol
as BombaPrince Ali wants the Golden Idol of Watusi and hires a ruthless hunter to get it for him. Bomba...
Movie pageLucky Cisco Kid
as Tommy LawrenceCisco and Gordito arrive to find there is an outlaw operating in the area who is assumed to be...
Movie pageBomba and the Hidden City
as BombaA nature photographer and his guide meet a corrupt emir with a dirty secret. Only...
Movie pageThe Lost Volcano
as BombaLittle David Gordon lives in the jungle with his parents Ruth and Fred, along with their servant...
Movie pageBomba, the Jungle Boy
as BombaGeorge Harland and his daughter Pat are photographers who discover a wild boy in the jungle....
Movie pageThe Lion Hunters
as BombaA lion trapper and his daughter rendezvous with their hardheaded partner in the African jungle....
Movie pageThe Man on the Rock
as Napoleon's Son (uncredited)A look at whether Napoleon Bonaparte indeed died on the island of St. Helena in 1821.
Movie pageSafari Drums
as BombaA group of movie makers arrive in Africa to make a film about jungle wildlife.
Movie pageLittle Orvie
as Orvie StoneFamily film, based on a Booth Tarkington tale, about a young boy who takes extreme measures to...
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