Johnny Sheffield

Born: 1931-04-11

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.


Placeholder

Tarzan Triumphs

as Boy
Released: 1943-01-20

Zandra, white princess of a lost civilization, comes to Tarzan for help when Nazis invade the...

Movie page

Tarzan and the Amazons

as Boy
Released: 1945-04-29

A group of archaeologists asks Tarzan to help them find an ancient city in a hidden valley of...

Movie page

Tarzan's New York Adventure

as Boy
Released: 1942-05-01

Circus owner Buck Rand kidnaps Boy to perform in his show. He forces a pilot to fly him, Boy and...

Movie page

Tarzan's Desert Mystery

as Boy
Released: 1943-12-26

A letter from Jane, who is nursing British troops, asks Tarzan's help in obtaining a malaria...

Movie page

Tarzan Finds a Son!

as Boy
Released: 1939-06-16

A young couple die in a plane crash in the jungle. Their son is found by Tarzan and Jane who...

Movie page

Tarzan's Secret Treasure

as Boy
Released: 1941-12-01

A scientific expedition happens to discover that gold exists on Tarzan's escarpment. The...

Movie page

Tarzan and the Leopard Woman

as Boy
Released: 1946-02-18

A tribe devoted to the leopard cult is dedicated to preventing civilization from moving further...

Movie page

Tarzan and the Huntress

as Boy
Released: 1947-04-05

A shortage of zoo animals after World War II brings beautiful animal trainer Tanya, her...

Movie page

African Treasure

as Bomba
Released: 1952-05-06

Against stock footage of lions, elephants and wildebeasts, Bomba the Jungle Boy captures a pair...

Movie page

Babes in Arms

as Bobs (as John Sheffield)
Released: 1939-10-10

Mickey Moran, son of two vaudeville veterans, decides to put up his own vaudeville show with his...

Movie page

Knute Rockne All American

as Knute - Age 7
Released: 1940-10-05

The story of legendary Notre Dame football player and coach Knute Rockne.

Movie page

Bomba on Panther Island

as Bomba
Released: 1949-12-18

In this second film in the Bomba, the Jungle Boy series, Bomba tracks a dangerous panther.

Movie page

Lord of the Jungle

as Bomba
Released: 1955-06-12

The jungle boy tries to stop a herd of rogue elephants.

Movie page

Killer Leopard

as Bomba
Released: 1954-08-22

Movie actress Linda Winters has gone into the jungle to find her lost husband Fred. Bomba the...

Movie page

Million Dollar Baby

as Alvie Grayson
Released: 1941-05-31

A sudden windfall has unexpected consequences on a working class girl during the Great Depression.

Movie page

Elephant Stampede

as Bomba
Released: 1951-10-28

Bomba the jungle boy swings into action when an elephant herd is threatened by ivory hunters.

Movie page

Bomba and the Jungle Girl

as Bomba
Released: 1952-12-07

Bomba decides to find out who his parents were. He starts with Cody Casson's diary and follows...

Movie page

The One, the Only, the Real Tarzan

as Self
Released: 2004-08-22

The glorious and tragic story of American athlete and actor Johnny Weissmuller (1904-84),...

Movie page

The Golden Idol

as Bomba
Released: 1954-01-10

Prince Ali wants the Golden Idol of Watusi and hires a ruthless hunter to get it for him. Bomba...

Movie page

Lucky Cisco Kid

as Tommy Lawrence
Released: 1940-06-28

Cisco and Gordito arrive to find there is an outlaw operating in the area who is assumed to be...

Movie page

Bomba and the Hidden City

as Bomba
Released: 1950-09-24

A nature photographer and his guide meet a corrupt emir with a dirty secret. Only...

Movie page

The Lost Volcano

as Bomba
Released: 1950-06-25

Little David Gordon lives in the jungle with his parents Ruth and Fred, along with their servant...

Movie page

Bomba, the Jungle Boy

as Bomba
Released: 1949-03-20

George Harland and his daughter Pat are photographers who discover a wild boy in the jungle....

Movie page

The Lion Hunters

as Bomba
Released: 1951-03-25

A lion trapper and his daughter rendezvous with their hardheaded partner in the African jungle....

Movie page

The Man on the Rock

as Napoleon's Son (uncredited)
Released: 1938-09-03

A look at whether Napoleon Bonaparte indeed died on the island of St. Helena in 1821.

Movie page

Safari Drums

as Bomba
Released: 1953-06-21

A group of movie makers arrive in Africa to make a film about jungle wildlife.

Movie page

Little Orvie

as Orvie Stone
Released: 1940-03-11

Family film, based on a Booth Tarkington tale, about a young boy who takes extreme measures to...

Movie page